By Joel Miller

Amid the chaos of over-run polling stations without enough voting slips to go round, the Conservative Party have come out on top in yesterday’s General Election, winning the most seats but falling short of an overall majority.

All Tory ministers, MPs and party officials have echoed the call that the result shows a “decisive rejection of Gordon Brown” after 13 years of failure.

After being re-elected in his Whitney constituency, David Cameron said: “The Labour Government has lost its mandate to run the country and the Conservative Party is set to win more seats at this election than we have in 80 years.”

“What is clear from these results is that the country wants change. That change needs a new governemnt and we will bring strong, stable, decisive and good governemnt for our country. This is a great country and I will put the national interest first,” he said.

George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, said: “I believe it is pretty clear that Labour cannot carry on in Government. They have been rejected by the people.”

Echoing what Gordon Brown said to Nick Clegg in the third TV debate, Mr Osborne said: “I think Labour politicians need to get real.”

A key target seat for the Conservative party, Basildon South, was won on a 7.5 per cent swing from Labour, however another key seat, Bolton North East, was retained by Labour, prompting some Tory election officials to question their hold over the election.

Starting the day with over 350 seats, the election has been Labour’s to lose and they have lost in spectacular style.

Despite holding on to the first seat to be declared, Sunderland South, the party has lost close to 100 seats, demoting them to the second largest party in the House of Commons.

However, the party managed to hold on to the crucial seat of Durham, a seat they have occupied since 1935.

David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, surprised everyone when he admitted: “My instinct is that regrettably we have lost the election. We should now go for uniting the anti-Conservative forces.”

The Labour party still have enough seats to do a deal with the Liberal Democrats and have a slight majority over the Conservatives.

Despite the convention that Gordon Brown can have ‘first dibs’ on a coalition, there is nothing to stop the Conservatives from declaring themselves the winner and trying to lead a minority government.

Alan Johnson, the Labour Home Secretary, said about a possible coalition with the Lib Dems: “I have no problem [with it] at all. If the will of the people is that no party has an overall majority, that’s where grown-up, mature politicians have to be.”

Shortly after hearing his re-election, Gordon Brown flew back to London to enter into talks immediately with the Liberal Democrats over the possibility of a Lib-Lab pact.

Despite a surge in the opinion polls following the leaders’ television debates, the Lib Dems have faired much worse than predicted.

Lembit Opik, the Liberal Democrat MP, lost his seat in Montgomeryshire on a spectacular 13 per cent swing from the Lib Dem’s to the Conservatives.

He said: “I'm really quite disappointed that I lost. It’s a sad time for me.”

Nick Clegg’s seat in Sheffield Hallam saw police called to the polling station after a group of students who were turned away from voting tried to prevent ballot boxes from being taken away to count.

One voter in the constituency said: “It was choc-a-block in there. I haven’t got to cast my vote and I’m so frustrated.”

Northern Ireland First Minister, Peter Robinson, also lost his seat for the Democratic Unionist Party, a seat he has held since 1979.

The DUP lost to the Alliance Party after Mr Robinson becoming embroiled in a controversial land deal. His wife, also an MP, was forced to stand down earlier in year after she admitted to having an affair with a teenager.

The day was characterized by ineptitude as polling stations across the country either ran out of ballot slips, or closed their doors whilst people were still queueing to vote whilst others stayed open past 10pm.

Keeping a polling station open after the alloted time is illegal.

The early hours of the election were mired with uncertainty over the reliability of the joint BBC, ITV and Sky News exit poll.

The poll showed the Lib Dem’s losing three seats, Labour losing 94 and the Conservative’s gaining nearly 100 seats.

However, doubts were raised over the exact figure for Lib Dem’s, due to their apparent poll surge following the leaders’ debates.