The proposition to change Britain's voting system from first-past-the-post to the alternative vote has been resoundingly defeated. The referendum was a condition of the coalition deal demanded by the Liberal Democrats who had a terrible set of election results from around Britain. Martin Kettle explains the significance for the two governing parties.
The Scottish National party, led by Alex Salmond, surpassed all expectations to win an overall majority in Scotland, as the Lib Dems were crushed and Labour's hope of returning to government dashed. The Guardian's Severin Carrell explains from Edinburgh what the result means for Scotland.
As results from town halls across England poured in on Friday it became apparent that while support for the Lib Dems was collapsing, the Tory vote was holding up. Ed Miliband claimed that his party was "on its way back" after winning back control of more than a dozen councils. Mike Smithson of Politicalbetting.com says that David Cameron will be happiest of the three main leaders.
Labour's best showing though came in Wales where it fell one seat short of a majority. Steven Morris is in Cardiff for the Guardian and tells us that the Lib Dems could end up sharing power.
In Northern Ireland, counting was still in progress as we recorded but in Belfast Henry McDonald tells us why a lower than usual turnout could be good news.
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