CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

Historic Labour triumph as poll predicts 170 majority | Tories and SNP expected to collapse as Reform surges

- PAUL HUTCHEON

KEIR Starmer is heading for Downing Street after an exit poll showed Labour winning a historic landslide over the Tories.

The Labour leader will become Prime Minister after his party was predicted to secure a massive 170-seat majority.

The poll predicted the annihilation of the Tories and a poor night for the SNP, with John Swinney's party falling from 48 seats to 10 in the survey of 20,000 voters.

Starmer said: "To everyone who has campaigned for Labour in this election, to everyone who voted for us and put their trust in our changed Labour Party - thank you."

According to the poll, Labour will win 410 seats as the Tories fall to 131 - their lowest tally ever. The Lib Dems are in line to win 61 seats and Reform are predicted to secure 13 MPs.

Former SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon reacted to the predicted collapse of the SNP vote, saying: "This is not a good night for the SNP on those numbers. This is at the grimmer end of the expectations for the SNP if the exit poll is right."

She added: "There will be a lot of questions that need to be asked as we come out of it." Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson called the projected election result a "massacre" for the party.

But she said the word coming out of Conservative central office earlier was that the Tories could be below three figures in terms of seats.