UPDATED - 10.30pm
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party has won a third consecutive term in power but with 621 of the 646 seats declared by 10.30pm NZT on Friday, his majority was seen cut to around 70 seats - 324 seats needed to win.
Labour: 353
Conservatives: 196
Liberal Democrats: 60
Others: 12
Key results:
* Blair wins British election but will have a hugely reduced majority in the next parliament.
* Results, an exit poll and projections by the main television broadcasters suggest the premier will have a majority of between 60 and 80 seats, down from 161 last time.
* Blair hails historic third Labour term but acknowledges: "It seems clear ... the British people wanted the return of a Labour government but with a reduced majority.
*Conservative leader Michael Howard has won his constituency and increased his majority in the seat by 9 per cent. He congratulated Tony Blair but said "I believe the time has come for him to deliver on the things that matter to the people of our country." He also said the Conservative result marked a "step forwards in our recover" and the party would complete that recovery in the next term.
* Tony Blair has been re-elected in Sedgefield. In his speech he admitted that "the British people wanted the return of a Labour government but with a reduced majority"
* Foreign secretary Jack Straw has been re-elected in Blackburn but his vote dropped by 12 per cent. Liberal Democrats gained by 12 per cent.
* Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown also safely won his constituency
* Labour has lost 45 seats which it previously held
* Opposition Conservatives do better than expected, particularly in London, where they retake seven seats including Putney, Wimbledon and Enfield Southgate from Labour.
* George Galloway, expelled by Labour for attacking Blair over Iraq, wins in a Labour stronghold in East London where Muslims make up half the population.
* Rebel Labour member Peter Law overturns a majority of almost 20,000 votes in a seat in Wales to snatch one of Labour's safest seats from its official candidate.
* Blair becomes first prime minister to win three consecutive terms for Labour, the socialist party founded a century ago, and now the dominant force of the British centre-left.
QUOTES
* "There is a sense in which this election has been a referendum on Blair and I think it is going to leave him considerably weakened. My guess is it really hastens Blair's departure ... he may not be there at Christmas" -- Mark Wickham-Jones, senior lecturer in politics at Bristol University * "With a majority like this it will be much harder to push through a radical programme in parliament" -- Kevin Theakston, politics professor, Leeds University
* "I know Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country but I hope now we can unite again and look to the future, there and here." -- Tony Blair * "Mr Blair, this is for Iraq. This defeat that you have suffered and all the other defeats that New Labour has suffered this evening are for Iraq. All the people you have killed, all the lives you told have come back to haunt you and the best thing the Labour party could do is sack you tomorrow morning as soon as they get back to work." -- George Galloway, leader of Respect.
TIMETABLE (ALL TIMES NZT)
* 9.30pm Friday - Blair to see The Queen
* 9am on Friday - Polls closed.
* Friday - Blair turns 52.
* By 6pm on Friday - All but nine mainland UK results are due. Northern Ireland's will be announced between 3am and 7am Saturday.
* Early hours of Saturday - By tradition, the losing party leader officially concedes defeat and winner declares victory.
* Mid-morning - Newly elected prime minister enters 10 Downing Street, the official residence, and could announce his top cabinet ministers.
Election guide:
Under Britain's winner-takes-all electoral system, 646 regional constituencies across the country each elect one member of parliament. Once the winning party takes its 324th seat, it is guaranteed an overall majority in parliament. At the 2001 election, Labour won 412 seats, Conservatives 166, Liberal Democrats 52.
Exit poll:
An exit poll of British voters predicted Prime Minister Tony Blair would secure a third successive term in power with a much reduced parliamentary majority of 66 seats in the 646-seat parliament, down from 160 last time.
The poll gave Labour a total of 356 seats, down from 409 in the last Parliament. It put the Conservatives up 45 at 209 while Charles Kennedy's Liberal Democrats, the only mainstream party to oppose the war, gained just two.
The poll, for main television broadcasters the BBC and ITV, predicted a margin of victory.
- REUTERS and NZ Herald
<EM>UK election:</EM> Snapshot
Tony Blair, Michael Howard, Charles Kennedy
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