Ed Miliband has stepped down as Labour leader after his party’s disappointing general election showing.<\/p>\n
Labour suffered heavy losses at the hands of the SNP, with the Tories forecast to achieve a majority.<\/p>\n
In a speech in London, Mr Miliband said it was “time for someone else” to take over the leadership and confirmed deputy leader Harriet Harman would be interim leader.<\/p>\n
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls was among the party’s big-name casualties.<\/p>\n
It also lost its election campaign chief Douglas Alexander and its leader in Scotland Jim Murphy.<\/p>\n
‘Deeply sorry’<\/p>\n
Mr Miliband was applauded by staff as he arrived at Labour headquarters in central London.<\/p>\n
On Twitter, Mr Miliband said: “I am grateful to the people who worked on our campaign and for the campaign they ran. The responsibility for the result is mine alone.”<\/p>\n
Labour would “never stop fighting for the working people of this country”, he added.<\/p>\n
Earlier the Labour leader, who took charge of the party in 2010, said it had been a “very disappointing and difficult night” for his party, which is forecast to win 234 seats, compared with 258 in 2010.<\/p>\n
Speaking after retaining his Doncaster North seat, he said his party had been overwhelmed by a “surge of nationalism”.<\/p>\n
He added: “Now I want to say to all our dedicated and decent colleagues in Scotland who have lost their seats that I am deeply sorry about what has happened.”<\/p>\n
Mr Balls lost his Morley and Outwood seat to Conservative candidate Andrea Jenkyns by 422 votes.<\/p>\n
“Any personal disappointment I have at this result is as nothing compared to the sense of sorrow I have at the result Labour has achieved across the UK, and the sense of concern I have about the future,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Balls said questions would arise about the future of the United Kingdom and Britain’s position in Europe over the next five years.<\/p>\n
‘Catastrophic night’<\/p>\n
Labour also lost previous leader Gordon Brown’s former constituency to the SNP as the nationalist party almost swept the board in Scotland.<\/p>\n
Mr Alexander lost his seat to a 20-year-old student after a massive 26.9% swing from Labour to the SNP in Paisley and Renfrewshire South.<\/p>\n
Conceding defeat, Mr Murphy said: “The party that has traditionally been the tireless champion of the underdog now finds itself in the position of being the underdog.<\/p>\n
“Scotland needs a strong Labour Party and our fight-back starts tomorrow morning.”<\/p>\n
Former Labour Home Secretary Lord Reid told the BBC “changing the captain” would not necessarily improve Labour’s electoral prospects.<\/p>\n
“They (the public) thought we were on the wrong side of all the major arguments – our economic competence, on the question of creating wealth rather than just distributing wealth, on the question of immigration, on the question of reform of the public services,” he said.<\/p>\n
Another Labour peer, former First Minister Lord McConnell, said his party had experienced a “catastrophic night”.<\/p>\n
“I think the Labour strategy for this election was always going to end up in this situation,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The idea that we could poll between 30 and 35% and pull off a victory was not going to work.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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