Election results: Miliband could still be PM - Labour

Ed Miliband could still be the next prime minister despite being forecast to lose 19 seats, say Labour.

The party had 258 seats in 2010, but is predicted to finish with 239 - 77 behind the Conservatives.

Former Labour spin-doctor Alastair Campbell said Mr Miliband could be PM "even on those numbers" if David Cameron could not form a government.

But Conservative Michael Gove said, if the polls were accurate, then Labour had "clearly lost".

Neither Labour nor the Tories are predicted to win an outright majority, with the Conservatives expected to be 10 seats shy of a majority.

'Sceptical'

Mr Campbell said: "I have to say it just doesn't feel right, I think there is a lot of scepticism about the poll.

"If David Cameron cannot form a government that can command the confidence of the House of Commons, then Ed Miliband would, even on those numbers, be asked to form a government."

The strength of the SNP, which is set to make large gains, appears to have sapped support away from Labour.

However, Mr Campbell said he would "eat my kilt" if the SNP get the 58 seats the polls predict.

Who can lead?

The Liberal Democrats are expected to haemorrhage seats and finish the night with just 10 MPs, while the Tories are 10 short.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: "We'll have to wait and see whether in fact the results bear out the exit poll, or all the other opinion polls we've had day-after-day.

"But the thing we can say is even if the exit poll is right, that means the Conservative-Liberal Democrat majority has gone from 72 to zero.

"David Cameron's ability to hang on in Downing Street is on a knife edge."

In the first declaration of the night, Bridget Phillipson increased her majority in Houghton and Sunderland South.

However, it is outside of Labour's strongholds in the north-east of England that the exit polls suggest the party is struggling.

Ian Lucas was re-elected in the safe Labour seat of Wrexham, but with a smaller majority as the Conservatives gained votes.

Labour had been hoping to do well in London, but some of the early signs have been unpromising.

Sadiq Khan has increased his majority in Tooting, but there was a swing of only 0.2% from Conservatives to Labour in the constituency.

Meanwhile in Battersea, one of the party's targets in the capital, the Conservatives actually strengthened their grip on the seat.

Former minister Lord Mandelson said "All the three main parties have lost this election, I mean some have lost it more than others, the Lib Dems in particular.

"But we seem to be heading towards an outcome in which no party has a majority."

In his analysis of the campaign, Lord Mandelson added: "I think the Labour Party has been squeezed by two nationalisms, obviously in Scotland by the SNP very severely indeed, but squeezed also in England by the nationalist frenzy whipped up by David Cameron and the Conservative Party.

"The Labour Party has found itself placed very uncomfortably between those two."

Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, admitted to being "puzzled" by the exit poll and said there were no questions about the leadership.

"I think Ed Miliband has led a really strong campaign across the country with so many people out on the doorstep, we've seen that with so many people joining the party, being involved in our campaign.

"That's why I think we really should wait until we've got those results in."

The Conservatives and Labour had appeared to be neck-and-neck throughout the election campaign, according to the opinion polls.

Senior Conservatives including Boris Johnson, Teresa May and Mr Gove say it has been a bad night for Labour.

Full results across the UK as they happen