Are the Lib Dems and Reform really right to feel happy?

It’s a disaster, a cataclysm, a wipeout. Half the cabinet will lose their seats, and Labour will be in power for a decade. All those things will be true if the BBC exit poll is anything close to reflecting reality – but hang on a minute. At the risk of sounding like one of those football managers insisting that ‘there are positives to take out of this’ after a five-nil defeat, isn’t there reason for the Tories to feel a bit of relief here? Talk of the Lib Dems overtaking the Conservatives to become His Majesty’s Opposition seems to be wide of the mark. They appear to be nowhere close, ending up with fewer than half the seats won by the Conservatives.

It looks like there are two big winners from this election. Sir Keir Starmer, obviously. But also the two-party system. It has, once again, shown its utter dominance. Neither the Lib Dems nor Reform have been able to inflict more than a small dent in its armour.