Nigel Farage is set to lead a squad of 13 Reform UK MPs in the Commons, the election exit poll suggests.
The party leader is on course to enter Parliament at the eighth attempt by winning in the Essex coastal seat of Clacton.
And in a sign of the collapse in support for the Tories on the right the official exit poll suggests as many as 12 other candidates could join him.
Among the seats it is expected to win is Great Yarmouth, the former seat of Brandon Lewis, a former Tory Northern Ireland Secretary. It is also in place to win in Barnsley North and Barnsley South, two solid Labour seats.
If born out by the results overnight it will lead to major questions about Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an early election.
And it will cause a huge battle for the soul of the Conservative Party in the weeks to come, with senior figures on the right open to some form of link-up.
Dr David Bull, Reform’s deputy leader, was asked on Sky News if he though Reform had split the Tory vote.
‘I think the Conservatives have managed to split themselves in half,’ he replied.
Mr Farage celebrated with a glass of win as the exit poll was revealed
The party leader is on course to enter Parliament at the eighth attempt by winning in the Essex coastal seat of Clacton.
And in a sign of the collapse in support for the Tories on the right the official exit poll suggests as many as 12 other candidates could join him.
The Tories are expected to be slashed from the 365 secured less than five years ago to just 131 – their worst performance in modern political history
Andrea Leadsom has said the exit poll may indicate it was ‘wrong not to go after Reform straight away’.
The Conservatives at times seemed afraid to even say Nigel Farage’s name after e U-turned on a decision not to run, and later took hold of the party reins from ex-leader Richard Tice.
Ms Leadsom, the former Tory Cabinet minister said it was a ‘devastating’ night for her party.
She told BBC News: ‘It’s never easy when you are the prime minister to decide when to call a general election… it is a very, very difficult and very personal decision for any prime minister.’
She added: ‘Maybe it was wrong not to go after Reform straight away but again, all of these are very carefully thought through as to what is the right approach and what we wanted to do was focus on what Labour would be doing with people’s taxes.’
Labour is on course for a landslide, according to the exit poll projection, with 410 seats. The Conservatives are set for just 131 seats – the lowest number Tory MPs on record.
The exit poll also forecasts the Liberal Democrats on 61 seats and The Green Party on two.
In Scotland, the SNP are expected to secure jus 10 seats with Plaid Cymru in Wales on four.
Ahead of polling booths closing last night, Mr Farage took to X, formerly Twitter, to taunt the Tories over Reform’s popularity under his leadership.
In one post directed at Rishi Sunak, he said: ‘Time to hit the panic button.’
In another post, which featured a video of him visiting a boxing gym on the campaign trail, he said: ‘Let’s deliver a knockout blow to the political establishment today.’
Mr Farage also posted a series of single-sentence policies from Reform’s manifesto designed to outflank the Tories on the Right, including raising the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million, scrapping stamp duty on properties worth up to £750,000 and quitting the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Farage had earlier declined to say what number of MPs they would classify as a win, but 13 elected representatives is higher than predictions by most polls.
It has been said that Reform’s wide but thin support would not help their success in a first-past-the-post system and Mr Farage has been vocal about the need for changes to the electoral system.
Dr David Bull, Reform’s deputy leader, was asked on Sky News if he though Reform had split the Tory vote. ‘I think the Conservatives have managed to split themselves in half,’ he replied.
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