Election 2015: Cameron secures second term in shock election results
David Cameron has secured a second term as Prime Minister as the Conservative party heads for a surprise majority in the 2015 general election.
This will be welcome news for the hospitality industry, which this week expressed concerns over what looked to be an uncertain election process.
However, as the results poured in through the night it became clear that the early estimates were markedly shy of the mark with the BBC now anticipating that the Tories will bag 329 electoral seats. At the time of publication, the party had won 315 seats, while Labour had 228.
It is depressing news for Ed Milliband's Labour party, which took a particular battering in Scotland thanks to the overwhelming surge of support for the SNP, which has picked up 56 seats, gaining 50 - a landslide that even party leader Nicola Sturgeon was cautious about expecting.
Meanwhile it was a crushing night for the Liberal Democrats, which lost a punishing 46 seats, including that of business secretary Vince Cable, retaining just eight. Nick Clegg has retained his seat in Sheffield, Hallam, but his position as leader of the party looks far from secure.
News this morning that the Conservative party will remain in office will likely be met with approval by hospitality bosses who had, in the run up to yesterday's vote, recognised and credited the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition for its creation of a period of economic stability and growth, and expressed concerns over the possibility that a Labour/SNP coalition could endanger it.
The General Election 2015: What the industry wants >>
