Labour romps to victory

Labour has officially won the 2001 British General Election after the party passed the benchmark figure of 330 seats.

Tony Blair becomes the first Labour Prime Minister to be elected to serve a second term, and reacted by saying the result gave him "a great sense of pride".

Mr Blair told a meeting at his local Trimdon Labour Club in Trimdon, Co Durham: "This chance, a second term, is a big moment not just in our own party's history but in our country's history as well.

"What we have now got to do is to use the strength that the British people give us in this election to make sure that we carry out what we have said we will do."

Labour held seats where it had courted controversy, with Peter Mandelson holding Hartlepool, Keith Vaz holding Leicester East and Tory defector Shaun Woodward retaining St Helens South.

The Prime Minister is expected back in London from his Sedgefield constituency at daybreak. After he thanks his party workers, he is expected to move swiftly to re-shuffle his Cabinet.

He is expected to switch key figures such as Home Secretary Jack Straw, Education Secretary David Blunkett, Mr Prescott and Trade Secretary Stephen Byers.

The likely scale of Labour's victory, with the party heading for a majority at least equal to its 1997 record of 179, means speculation is bound to surround William Hague's future as Tory leader.