Boris Johnson will rapidly move forward with Brexit after securing a historic victory in the British general election.

The British Prime Minister will have a comfortable majority in Westminster he wanted to take Britain out of the EU.

Speaking this morning, Boris Johnson declared “we smashed the roadblock, we ended the gridlock” as he celebrated “the biggest Conservative majority since the 1980s” with party workers in central London. 

On a disastrous night for the opposition, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn signalled he will be standing down following his party’s greatest defeat since 1935.

Lib Dems leader Jo Swinson was among the biggest casualties on the night as she lost her seat.

Britain is scheduled to leave the EU in 49 days.

The overwhelming result puts an end to any talk of Brexit being reversed in a second referendum.

Mr Johnson was elected at 3:40am in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

He said the “historic election” result had “given a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done”.

In a statement this morning, Tanaiste Simon Coveney congratulated Mr Johnson on his victory.

“The Irish government and my department now stand ready to seize the momentum and focus on getting Stormont up and running for all the people and parties in Northern Ireland,” he said.  

US President Donald Trump tweeted his congratulations to Boris Johnson on victory in the General Election, adding the UK and US will “now be free to strike a massive new trade deal after Brexit”.

The fallout from Brexit has redrawn the political landscape, turning the so-called ‘red wall’ of Labour strongholds into Conservative blue.

The Tory landslide will leave Mr Johnson with a majority of 76 MPs, giving him the power to implement his Brexit deal.

The Conservatives will win around 357 seats, an increase of 40, as Labour had their worst result in modern times.

After Mr Corbyn’s party lost around 60 seats, his leadership immediately came into question when the scale of the losses were revealed.

Mr Corbyn said he will not lead Labour in the next general election but will continue to lead the party in a transition period.

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In Northern Ireland, the DUP had a really bad night, while the SDLP made a comeback.

Sinn Féin’s John Finucane won the North Belfast seat held by their Westminster leader Nigel Dodds.

The SDLP’s Claire Hanna won the Belfast South seat from the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood was expected to take the Foyle seat long held by John Hume from Sinn Féin

And the Alliance Party won the first seat of the night in North Down, a seat which was expected to go to the DUP.

Mr Johnson will press ahead with the implementation of the Brexit deal he agreed with the EU.

The Brexit deadline of the end of January is expected to be met with the Houses of Parliament expected to sit through the Christmas period to pass necessary laws. He will now also seek to agree a trade deal with the EU.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he hoped UK voters did not return another hung parliament and the next government had a large majority in the House of Commons.

The Brexit message resonated with voters as Mr Johnson got the mandate he repeatedly asked for over the campaign.

However, there were some suggestions last night he would now have the option of going for a softer Brexit with a closer relationship with the EU.

The Tory victories included seats long held by Labour in the north and midlands of England and in Wales.

The Scottish Nationalist Party were the other big winners on the night with gains of up to 20 seats, again largely at the expense of Labour.

Ms Swinson lost her seat in Dunbartonshire East to the SNP.

Promoting a second Brexit referendum, the Lib Dems were predicted to have just 13 seats, with no gains.

The Green Party will only hold its one seat, failing to make a breakthrough on the back of the climate change agenda.

The Brexit Party will win no seats.

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Speaking in Brussels where he is attending an EU summit, Mr Varadkar said the worst outcome for Ireland would be another UK parliament without an overall majority, which would mean more inaction and uncertainty on Brexit.

“The best thing for Ireland, for the United Kingdom and the European Union would be an end to the uncertainty,” Mr Varadkar said.

“So, whether that’s Prime Minister Johnson winning with a large majority, or the remain parties together winning a majority, we’ll work with whatever the outcome is,” he said.

“But what has been very hard to work with has been a parliament which was a hung parliament, that wasn’t able to come to a majority on anything. I just hope we’re not in that position again,” the Taoiseach added.

The DUP’s Sammy Wilson said there was a positive from a sizeable majority, even though his party’s support is no longer required.

“I still wouldn’t be totally dismayed insofar as a big majority could actually mean that Boris Johnson can go in and be fairly bullish with the EU when it comes to negotiations, and if he does do that then many of the problems the current deal is going to cause Northern Ireland could disappear,” he said.

Sterling enjoyed its biggest surge in a decade as the markets welcomed predictions of a strong Conservative majority to finally end the Brexit deadlock.

Investors bought into the pound after the exit poll suggested Mr Johnson would be given a majority strong enough to put to bed the uncertainty around Brexit, which is seen as a positive development for UK businesses and the economy.

The Conservatives won seats in areas where it never had MPs before at Labour’s expense.

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The recriminations in the Labour Party started immediately with candidates blaming Mr Corbyn, whose leadership is now under immense pressure.

The outcome is set to be the first time Labour will drop around the 200 seat mark in 84 years.

A fracas broke out at the election count of Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly said his party’s gains in northern England and the Midlands were brought about by Labour’s failings.

“In long-standing Labour constituencies there was fury, not anger, fury, at both Labour and Jeremy Corbyn,” he said.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the election campaign felt “a little bit like a referendum”.

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