Defence Secretary Grant Shapps Loses Seat

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has lost his seat to Labour at the General Election.

Labour's Andrew Lewin won 19,877 votes in Welwyn Hatfield, with Tory candidate Shapps coming second on 16,078.

Shapps becomes the second Cabinet minister to suffer defeat in the early hours of Friday morning after Justice Secretary Alex Chalk lost to the Lib Dems in Cheltenham.

A major ally of Rishi Sunak, Shapps has held several Cabinet positions and was seen as a potential candidate to succeed the Prime Minister as Tory leader after the election.

Follow the General Election results as they come in.

Other Cabinet ministers like Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt are also at risk from the Lib Dems and Labour respectively.

His defeat comes as the Tories face one of their worst every election results. The 10pm exit poll predicted they would be reduced to 131 seats, but they could end up with an even smaller number.

Labour, on the other hand, is heading for one of its best ever election performances, meaning Keir Starmer will become Prime Minister on Friday.

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