Labour made several notable gains in the election including Dorset South from the Tories and Ynys Mon from Plaid Cymru.

The party was also relieved that some of its brightest stars will remain in parliament after hanging on to their seats.

Notable among the Labour holds were the Birmingham Edgbaston seat of health minister Gisela Stuart and the Birmingham Yardley seat of schools minister Estelle Morris.

The Sun says of Morris: "now she will be education secretary"

In London, the party's Stephen Twigg won the Enfield Southgate seat he took from Michael Portillo in 1997 whilst Tony Coleman and Roger Casale held on in Putney and Wimbledon respectively.

In Scotland, Labour's Jim Murphy kept Eastwood, a seat that was, until 1997, the Tories' safest seat in north of the border.

Tory defector Shaun Woodward also won in St Helens South albeit with a massively reduced majority.

However, there were some significant defeats for Labour.

Dr Richard Taylor, an independent doctor protesting about a local hospital closure, took Wyre Forest from Labour's David Lock. There was also a shock result in Chesterfield where the Liberal Democrats took the constituency represented by Tony Benn until the election.