Breakthrough in the North | Tide turns in Wales | Mixed night for Lib Dems | Red Box blog | Analysis | Graphic: the election battlegrounds

The Conservatives made sweeping gains across the country early today as voters gave Gordon Brown a huge rebuff in his first electoral test as Prime Minister.

David Cameron chalked up important successes in the North, the Midlands and the South, securing his top target of Bury in Greater Manchester and taking control of Nuneaton and Bedworth, and Southampton.

The Conservatives also took seats in Labour strongholds of Sunderland and Wigan.

Gordon Brown's Black Wednesday

The Northern Rock disaster has torn away any remaining credibility the Prime Minister had

BACKGROUND

• Sorry story tests Gordon to the limit

• Gordon, how wonderful, wise and talented am I?

• Brown’s brain and his hand are not always connected

• How 'cruel' schooling scarred Brown

Related Links

• Breakthrough in the North for Tories

• Tide turns in Labour's South Wales heartlands

• The end of an era

Multimedia

• Red Box blog: how the night unfolded

Labour suffered one of its worst electoral humiliations, with its national share of the vote dropping to 24 or 25 per cent. The Tory share was projected at 43 or 44 per cent, better than its most optimistic predictions.

The margin was similar to the drubbing handed out to John Major in 1995 two years before Tony Blair entered Downing Street.

But it was also a mixed night for Liberal Democrats, projected to take only 25 per cent of the vote in Nick Clegg’s first elections in charge.

The Tories were heading for total gains of more than 200 seats and Labour’s losses were of a similar order.

The results will put further pressure on Mr Brown’s leadership after a dismal few months. His decision to abolish the 10p starting rate of tax was a substantial factor in Labour’s reverses.

The only possible consolation for Mr Brown was that Ken Livingstone seemed to have fared better than the polls had suggested. The main parties refused to call the London mayoral result after indications of a high turnout in the inner boroughs, which were expected to be more favourable to Mr Livingstone.

Tony Lloyd, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, said: “This is a very difficult night. It means Gordon Brown has got to listen.”

The result added up to Labour's worst electoral drubbing for 40 years with voters punishing Mr Brown for the 10p tax debacle and growing insecurity over the economy.

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