The Liberal Democrats have taken a record number of seats in the general election, replacing the SNP as the UK’s third largest party for the first time since 2015.
Sir Ed Davey’s party removed four Cabinet ministers as they romped to a total of 71 seats with 647 results declared.
This marks a nine seat increase on the party’s previous record under the late Charles Kennedy’s leadership of 62 seats in 2005, and is more than six times the number in 2019, when the party secured 11 seats.
Sir Ed told voters his MPs “will now work hard to keep that trust with a focus on the issues that matter most to them, most of all the NHS and care.”
He added: “This is a record-breaking night for the Liberal Democrats. We have swept to victory in seats from Land’s End to John O’ Groats.
“I am humbled by the trust that millions of people across the country have put in us.”
Earlier, he celebrated at an election party in central London, dancing and singing to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.”
After finishing his speech, Sir Ed hugged supporters and shook their hands.
Asked by journalists if his party can have any influence over a Labour government with such a large majority, he said: “Yes, we’ve got the best ideas, we have the most ambitious programme.
“The Conservatives have left the country in a mess and it will take some time.”
“It’s always great to beat Conservatives,” he added.
The crowd kept clapping and cheering as he posed for photos.
Among the biggest scalps the Lib Dems took from the Tories was in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, where Max Wilkinson won against Justice Secretary Alex Chalk.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan lost in Chichester, Sussex, to Jess Brown-Fuller, while Science Secretary Michelle Donelan lost to Brian Mathew in Melksham and Devizes.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer was also vanquished by Lib Dem Charlotte Cane.
Henley and Thame, Maidenhead, and Witney are also now Liberal Democrat seats.
The Lib Dems won around 12.3 percent of the overall vote to secure 71 seats.
The SNP, which won 48 seats in 2019 as the UK’s third largest party, has secured just eight seats.
Reform UK on 14.3 percent of the vote took just four, prompting its leader Nigel Farage, now the MP for Clacton, Essex, to say that the appetite for electoral reform will be “enormous.”
“I might even work with the Lib Dems on that,” Mr. Farage said.
Labour passed the majority threshold of 326 at around 5 a.m. just after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat, having clung on to his own seat.
Mr. Sunak has led the Conservatives to a defeat that could see them win the lowest number of seats in the history of the party.
