The incumbent Conservative government in the United Kingdom is on course to suffer one of its worst defeats in their electoral history, as the exit poll suggests they could lose around 240 parliamentary seats.

This would see the opposition Labour party returning to government for the first time since 2010, with its leader Keir Starmer as prime minister.

The UK exit poll in the past few elections have generally been a reliable predictor of the final result.

A party needs to win 326 seats to form a majority in parliament.

If no one party wins a majority on their own, they could form a coalition government with another to gain enough seats, as Theresa May's Conservatives did with the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland in 2017.

However, the poll predicts that Labour do not need to worry about this, winning 410 seats with Rishi Sunak's Conservatives on 131 seats.

The Liberal Democrats, sitting more to the centre of UK's political spectrum, are expected to make gains of over 50 seats, to finish with 61 Members of Parliament (MPs) for a third-place finish.

Rise of Reform UK

The exit poll also shows gains made by Reform UK, a party to the right of the Conservatives on the UK political spectrum, led by Nigel Farage.

Its manifesto pledged to "freeze 'non-essential' immigration' and to "stop the boats", referring to illegal migrants who cross the English Channel to try and gain entry to the UK.

They are predicted to gain around 13 seats, the most in its history, fuelled by concerns in the electorate over immigration.

Shake-up in Scotland

Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is predicted to suffer significant losses, and allowing Labour to once again become the biggest party in Scotland.

The exit poll predicts the SNP will be left with just 10 Members of Parliament (MPs), down from 48.

This would represent a setback to the SNP's ambition of winning independence for Scotland away from the UK.

Next PM

Starmer, who was knighted in 2014 for his role in running the Crown Prosecution Service, will be the only person in living memory to lead Labour to a general election victory, other than Tony Blair in 1997.

As prime minister, Starmer has pledged to focus on clean energy by setting up a national energy provider (Great British Energy), and tackle illegal immigration by setting up a Border and Security Command.

He has also pledged to step up building new homes and maintain the Conservatives' support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion, although he has ruled out reversing Brexit, with the UK to remain outside the European Union.

Top image from Rishi Sunak's Facebook page.