'Join Labour' searches surge after Jeremy Corbyn electrifies country with shock result

The biggest jump came after the exit poll was announced

Google searches for how to join the Labour party have surged following the shock election result which saw it gain 30 seats.

Although they were expected to sustain heavy losses after the country went to the polls, the party put in its best performance in years winning a total of 262 seats with 649 out of 650 counted.

Now searches on the social media appear to show a fresh wave of potential support for the party after it was credited with energising young people in particular.

From 8 June to 7pm on 9 June, searches for “join Labour” rose 72 points relative to previous searches for the topic.

The biggest jumps came at 10pm, when the exit poll predicted a hung parliament and at 8am when the scale of the Labour advance was obvious.

By contrast, the Conservatives saw a modest increase of 31 points relative to previous searches at 7am while the Liberal Democrats remained mostly static.

This spike in interest in joining political parties is normal following elections and referendums – for instance people were reportedly joining the Liberal Democrats at at rate of "one a minute" in the days after the EU referendum.

But it seems Mr Corbyn has managed to inspire millions of voters put off by Theresa May's "strong and stable" soundbites and hard Brexit campaigning, with a promise to "challenge austerity".

Although the official breakout of turnout figures by age will not be published until next week, some have suggested the vote among the under-25s could be as high as 72 per cent.

By contrast the youth vote has been falling for years with only 43 per cent turning out in 2015.

The result could alternative the conduct of politicians in future elections as many have traditionally moved to court older voters with promises of winter fuel allowances and triple-lock pensions because they can be relied upon to vote.

Labour promised to abolish tuition fees and introduce a "National Education Service" – modelled on the NHS – which will be "free at the point of need" throughout a person's life.