There were ugly scenes near Downing Street last night as police were forced to hold back protestors as they marched on Whitehall. Scotland Yard confirmed three people were arrested as protestors chanting “not my Prime Minister” and “no to Johnson” clashed with police.

Stand Up To Racism is stressing the importance of intensifying the resistance

Stand Up To Racism

Hundreds of people also also marched in Glasgow following Thursday’s election result which saw Boris Johnson’s Conservatives sweep to power with a majority of 80 seats as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party suffered heavy losses.

Organisers said further protests were taking place today.

Stand Up To Racism has planned marches in Leeds, Cambridge, Swansea, Derby, Bristol, Oxford, Birmingham, Edinburgh and York.

The organisation said: “From the moment the exit polls suggested the likelihood of a Tory majority, Stand Up To Racism was stressing the importance of intensifying the resistance.

“Boris Johnson’s election follows the same trend in the US and many European countries of populist votes propping up racist right-wing governments and is the product of a deeply polarised situation.”

Roads around Whitehall were closed last night as demonstrators, holding signs that read “Refugees welcome” and ”Defy Tory rule“, walked from outside Downing Street to Trafalgar Square.

Footage shared on social media showed police with batons drawn at the bottom of Parliament Street, striking out against protesters and warning them to “get back”.

Witnesses said there were confrontations between left and right-wing protesters on Whitehall.

Mr Johnson has vowed to repay the trust of former Labour supporters whose votes helped deliver him victory in the general election.

The Prime Minister made a symbolic visit to Tony Blair’s old Sedgefield constituency in County Durham – which fell to the Tories on Thursday night – to pledge his commitment to spreading opportunity across the country.

Speaking to a crowd of cheering supporters and newly-elected MPs from the region packed into the local cricket club, he said: “We believe in giving opportunity to everyone.

“We believe that talent is evenly distributed throughout our country, but opportunity is unfairly distributed.

“We are going to rectify that as a One Nation Conservative government, as a people’s government, that is what we are going to do.”

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Sedgefield was one of a swathe of seats across northern England, the Midlands and North Wales in Labour’s hitherto impregnable “red wall” to go blue as the Tories stormed to victory.

In his speech, Mr Johnson acknowledged how difficult it was for many lifelong Labour supporters to break with the party and cast their votes for the Tories.

He said: ”I can imagine people’s pencil’s hovering over the ballot paper and wavering before coming down for us and the Conservatives, and I know that people may have been breaking the voting habits of generations to vote for us.

“And I want the people of the North East to know that we in the Conservative Party, and I, will repay your trust – and everything that we do, everything that I do as your Prime Minister, will be devoted to repaying that trust.”

In a message to Tory MPs, Mr Johnson also echoed the words of Mr Blair when he became prime minister in 1997, saying: “Remember, we are not the masters, we are the servants now. Our job is to serve the people of this country.”

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