Welcome to Dinosaurs and Dandelions comprehensive LIVE coverage of the UK 2010 election. (Possibly) The biggest and best coverage by a New Zealand blog founded in April. This page will probably be updated throughout the day. Thanks to our award winning graphics coverage for the banner!
The UK are 11 hours behind us, so 9:30am here = 10:30pm there. My times are NZ Times.
09:15 - Turned on the TV and am greeted by an enthusiastic Jeremy gesturing wildly. Ah, the BBC.
9:29 - Clive Anderson is on the BBC. Awesome!
9:30 - The first exit poll is good news for the Conservatives: Con 305, Lab 255, LD 59, Other 29. Seems crazy for the Lib Dems to lose 3 seats. Exit polls have been off in the past and who knows how they will cope with a three way race. "What are you going to do now?" "Uh...wait, its going to be a very long night"
9:49 - Sunderland hasn't come close to its record to be the first electorate to declare. Record was 10:43pm, still waiting on the result. Stories of people missing out on voting at some polling booths.
9:51 - Houghton and Sunderland South finally declares. Labour take the seat. Current Tally: Labour 1, Conservatives 0, Lib Dems 0, Others 0. How exciting. Swing to Conservatives of 8.4%
10:10 - footage from people standing outside Leeds unable to vote "its a disgrace - third world politics" totally agree.
10:13 - Political discoveries BBC has "discovered" tonight; 1) Incumbency effect. It's irritating me that they need to declare a winner on the night. Under Proportional Representation there can be many "winners". "Its a very male thing to be predicting it so early". Washington and Sunderland West is meant to be declaring next but we are still waiting.
10:25 - Washington and Sunderland West is out. Labour holds the seat. Labour 2, Cons 0, LibDems 0, Others 0. Both safe Labour seats so far.
10:37 - Sunderland Central is close to announcing. Those Sunderland schoolboys have done a good job of rushing the polling boxes into the gym. David Cameron called this his "Wild Card". Labour over 19,000 votes and that will take the seat. Labour 3, Cons 0, Lib Dems 0, Others 0. All pretty safe Labour seats so far though.
10:48 - BBC seems unsympathetic to BNP's former leader who was involved in a plane crash. Amazing photo of the crash. "He might have to see the results from his hospital bed!"
11:10 - More on the voters being turned away. Some polls were closed at 10, some let people already inside by 10 vote and others kept themselves open. Apparently there has been a "sit in" in Sheffield by voters who were turned away. Getting some great shots of the leaders driving to the halls. Also a bomb alert in Northern Ireland. We are ticking all the boxes today.
11:36 - Labour 3, Sinn Fénn 1, Cons 0, Lib Dems 0, Others 0. Electoral Commissioner saying all polls should have been closed bang on at 10. Some have not followed the rules - petitions may follow.
11:48 - Labour 5, Lib Dems 1, Others 3. Others are all N.Ireland seats. Peter Robinson has been defeated in Belfast East. That's my granddads name.This one used to be the N.Ireland First Minister.
12:03 - Cons finally win a seat. Labour 5, Con 1, Lib Dems 1, Others 5. Results should come quicker now.
12:10 - Lab 7, Cons 2, Lib Dems 2, Others 6. "The British economy is so bad they can't afford enough paper for ballots."
12:37 - Lab 19, Cons 5, Lib Dems 4, Others 9. Gordon Brown held his seat, shock horror!
01:42 - Still too close, Cons have done surprisingly well in Wales. Looking like they won't get a majority - unsure if they will be able to form a government with "others" or will need Lib Dems. May still give Labour an opening. Lab 69, Cons 53, Lib Dems 8, Others 19.
02:28 - Still more driveway shots. Cons finally pull ahead 106, Lab 102, LibDems 14, Others 23. David Cameron has just been spotted ordering pizza at Westgate. Swing to conservatives is "stonking".
03:33 - Redcar has gone yellow. Cons 194, Lab 149, LibDems 29, Other 25.
04:20 - Back to the Swing-o-meter. Jeremy has finally found a pattern. Apparently. Cons 239, Lab 181, LibDems 36, Others 26.
04:54 - Greens win there first ever seat in the UK parliament.
05:28 - Cons 270, Lab 217, Lib Dems 44, Others 27. Conservatives probably won't reach a majority but will be able to form a government.
05:31 - Len Brown is reporting live for the BBC. 84 seats to go, Conservatives need 55 more.
07:28 - Quite a few results still to trickle in, 46 in fact. Conservatives are 39 seats short of a majority - if they pick up even half of the 46 they should be okay to govern in a minority, if most of these seats go to Labour then a Labour/Lib Dems government becomes possible.
08:24 - Conservatives have finally passed the 10 million vote mark. However with 38 to declare the Conservatives still need 37 for a majority. Almost impossible now. Caitlin has posted her thoughts here.
08:41 - The magic mark has been passed. The Conservatives will not be able to form a majority government. Only 35 seats are still to declare. Many still to declare are "Labour" seats in London. Con 290, Lab 247, Lib Dems 57, Others 27. BTW, Lab/Lib Dems have more votes than Conservatives now.
09:21 - Dinosaurs and Dandelions projects: Cons 302, Labour 264, Lib Dems 56, Others 28. Labour/Lib Dems would need support from say Social Democrat and Labour, Greens and Alliance to govern. Conservatives would really need the Liberal Democrats. Final results won't be out until around 4pm today UK time (3am NZ). And of course one seat's election has been delayed until the 27th due to a death.
09:43 - Nick Clegg says that he believes the Conservatives have the first right to try and form a government. The obvious price is electoral reform.
04:09 - Final results: Cons 306, Labour 258, Lib Dems 57, Others 28. Labour/Lib Dems would only be 315, nine short of a majority. Cons/Lib Dems would give a majority of 39.
