Blair wins but with reduced majority

Tony Blair and his Labour party have won a historic third term in government, but with a severely reduced majority.

The provisional figures show Labour received 36 per cent of the votes, down by almost 6 per cent and with about half the victory margin of that in the two previous votes in 1997 and 2001.

The Conservatives came second with 33 per cent and only a small gain of 0.6 per cent compared to the last elections.

The Liberal Democrats followed in third place, receivin...