Live | UK General Election 2015

The Conservatives received an unexpectedly strong show of support - thus lowering the level of economic and political uncertainty in Britain and avoiding a possible round of political horse-trading - but enormous challenges now lie ahead including a possible referendum on Brexit and negotiations on devolution, as Westminster searches for a lasting way to answer to Scots' revindications... (to be continued)

Andrew George, the Liberal Dem candidate who lost his seat in St Ives, Cornwall, has given his views on went wrong for his party.

"As a country we’re not used to coalition politics and I as I think many knew were complained about us jumping in too deeply into coalition and the risk of us becoming toxified by the Conservative brand and that appears to be what has happened," he said.

"Co-operation between parties rather than tediously re-rehearsing the arguments between them is something which actually the public like to see politicians doing.

"But unfortunately when they call for such things when it comes to actually doing it they respond by voting the smaller party out of office more or less."

Barack Obama offered his congratulations to David Cameron for what he described as an “impressive electoral victory” and hailed “the special and essential relationship”.

"The special and essential relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is rooted in deep and abiding shared interests and values. I have enjoyed working closely with prime minister," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

"Cameron on a range of shared interests these last several years, and I look forward to continuing to strengthen the bonds between our countries, as we work together on behalf of global peace, security and prosperity."

Stephen Fisher, one of the psephologists working on the BBC/Sky/ITV exit poll has explained in a blog post why the election unfolded as it did. Here are the key points.

"It is a well-known phenomenon that new incumbents build up a personal vote and so buck the national trend. In the US this is known as the sophomore surge. On average new Conservative incumbents went up by 4 points more than other Tory candidates, helping them hold on to some key marginals against the E&W [England and Wales] swing," he wrote, adding that virtually all the seats lost by the Lid Dems ended up to the Tories, while UKIP damaged Labour more than it damaged the Tories.

"It seems that the UKIP rise hurt Labour more than the Tories. Where Ukip were up by less than 7 points the Conservatives were up by 1.5 points on average; Labour up 6.9. Conversely, where Ukip was up by more than 14 points the Conservatives down 0.9 points and Labour were up only 1.6. So the Labour were up 5.3 less where UKIP did well but the corresponding difference for the Conservatives was just 0.6."

Analysts, strategists and economist in London and around Europe welcomed a win for the Conservative party in the general election, but there remained universal caution over relations with Europe. 

Read more here: What do the elections mean? Analysts weigh in

"The sectors within the UK stock market that were most exposed to some of the interventions planned in The Labour Party manifesto were those that jumped the most on the Conservative win," said Jasper Lawler, analyst at CMC Markets. 

The positive effect on the market was immediately felt, with a host of politically-sensible FTSE 100 firms jumping on Friday.

"No price caps or suggestion of breakup of the major utilities companies meant Centrica was the top riser," added Lawler.

"No rent cap or mansion tax sent homebuilders including Barratt Developments and estate agent Foxtons soaring. Banks were all trading significantly higher as chances of the bank levy increasing were reduced. Transport companies including Stagecoach saw some big gains with the threat of partial nationalisation gone.

"The longer term issue of the EU referendum scaring away investment has been put aside by markets which were more focused on the immediate positive implications for the business environment of a majority Conservative government."

The Conservatives' victory in the UK election may be a boost to sterling assets in the short term, but it also implies that a referendum on Britain exiting the EU is now likely in 2017, if not earlier, Societe Generale said in a note on Friday. 

If Britain were to leave the EU, the impact would be negative for growth, asset prices and sterling, ING said in a note Friday, as it pondered the consequences of a Brexit following the Conservatives’ UK election victory. 

The last seat in the election has been declared, with Conservative Derek Thomas winning St Ives from the Liberal Democrats, which leaves the Tories with a majority of 12 MPs. Here's a breakdown of the final results.

Conservative 331
Labour 232
SNP 56
Lib Dem 8
DUP 8
SF 4
Plaid 3
SDLP 3
UUP 2
Green Party 1
UKIP 1

The British Polling Council has launched an inquiry into why the polling companies got their forecasts so wrong.

HSBC raises Centrica price target to 300p from 240p on the reduced prospects for direct government intervention following the elections.

Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, has congratulated David Cameron on being re-elected as the UK Prime Minister, although he stressed he hoped the UK will remain in the EU.

Read more: President of the European Council congratulates Cameron for his re-election

Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg, said that Cameron's tough decision had paid off. "Intelligent austerity, combining spending cuts with tax reductions and some further pro-growth structural reforms allowed the UK economy to rebound, supported by an aggressively expansive central bank," he said. "GDP is 4% higher than at the peak in 2008 and the flexible labour market has delivered a new jobs miracle, with unemployment falling to almost pre-crisis levels. Cameron’s result should raise hopes for incumbent governments elsewhere in Europe, with Spain’s and Portugal’s centre-right governments facing elections later this year, with similar records."

David Cameron will announce the top four cabinet posts - Chancellor, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary - on Friday afternoon, while the other ministers will be announced on Monday.

Jim Messina, the campaign manager for Barack Obama's 2012 elections and a senior adviser to the Conservative Party, explains how the Tories swept to the Downing Street.

Ed Milliband did the right thing by resigning, former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said, although she added Milliband had fought a good campaign. Smith urged Labour to find a leader who could connect with the people of Britain.  "We do need to find a leader who can, yes, develop the policies, but actually can connect with people; who, people in my former constituency think, 'yes, they get me'; they are going to make my life better in the future," she said.

Tom Harris, Labour's candidate for Glasgow South, said his party lost so many votes in Scotland because of its support for the 'NO' campaign during the independence referendum.  "I and many Scottish Labour colleagues lost our jobs last night, and that's to be regretted," he said. "But if we had lost the referendum, we would have lost our country, and that would have been far, far worse."

Having urged Britons not to vote only to then endorse Ed Milliband just before the election, Russel Brand has released a new video in response to the elections in which the comedian claims he will leave politics.

David Cameron has insisted that he will give Scotland devolution as promised, though he added England remained would not be left behind. "I have always believed in governing with respect that’s why in the last parliament, we devolved power to Scotland and Wales and gave the people of Scotland a referendum on whether to stay within the UK," he said. "In this parliament I will stay true to my word and implement as fast as I can the devolution that all parties agreed for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, our plans are to create the strongest devolved Government anywhere in the world with important powers over taxation."