Election turnout: Labour win most seats where voter numbers increased more than 5%

Overall turnout of the election was 68.7 per cent – up 2.6 per cent from 2015

Labour has won the majority of seats where turnout was up by more than 5 per cent in the general election.

A large number of people casting their vote is good news for Labour, whose election day hopes have historically hinged on a high turnout.

The overall turnout of the election was 68.7 per cent – up 2.6 per cent from 2015.

As of 1.30am, just three seats had seen a reduced turnout: Nuneaton, Rutherglen and Hamilton West, and Paisley and Renfrewshire South, held by the SNP's Mhairi Black.

A hung parliament has been declared amid calls for Theresa May to resign after her decision to call a snap election disastrously backfired.

With no party holding an absolute majority in the House of Commons, Ms May pledged to offer “stability” if the Tories end up as the largest party with the most votes.

Record numbers of people signed up to vote on deadline day before registrations closed, with more than 600,000 names added to the electoral roll in the final 24 hours.

The figures point to a sharp increase in young voters adding their names to the register, with around two-thirds – 453,000 – of the new voters to sign up on deadline day aged between 18 and 34.

Jeremy Corbyn’s party has traditionally attracted more support from young voters, many of whom will be attracted to Labour’s promise to scrap university tuition fees.