Election results: Tories confident as Labour falters

The Conservatives are confident David Cameron will remain PM with early general election results suggesting the party will be close to a majority.

Labour has rejected an exit poll suggesting it would get 239 MPs to the Tories' 316.

The same poll suggested the Lib Dems would lose 47 seats and the SNP would win all but one seat in Scotland.

Results so far suggest the exit poll is accurate but the majority of the 650 seats have yet to declare.

In other election developments:

• The SNP are on course for a landslide in Scotland and could take all of the seats but one
• Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander have lost their seats to the SNP
• The Lib Dems are facing a wipeout and could end up with as few 10 MPs - a loss of 47
• Lib Dem cabinet minister Ed Davey has lost his Kingston and Surbiton seat to the Tories
• UKIP are polling strongly in the North of England but Nigel Farage could fail to win South Thanet
• The Green Party is predicted to get two MPs, according to the NOP/MORI exit poll for the BBC, ITV and Sky
• George Galloway has been reported to the police for retweeting an exit poll before voting ended

If the exit poll is accurate, Mr Cameron will be able to remain in Number 10 as the head of a minority government without the need for a coalition - although he might have to rely on the support of the DUP or the Lib Dems.

Even if Labour leader Ed Miliband was able to persuade the Lib Dems to join the SNP in backing a Labour government, he would not have the necessary numbers to get his legislative programme through Parliament in a Queen's Speech.

The finishing line needed to form an absolute majority is 326, but because Sinn Fein MPs have not taken up seats and the Speaker does not normally vote, the finishing line has, in practice, been 323.