Ukip wins Clacton from the Tories and runs Labour mighty close in Heywood & Middleton

2.50am Douglas Carswell’s victory speech, after winning a 12,404 majority, was not triumphalist: there was no tub-thumping. Instead, he said that Ukip must be the party of 1^st and 2^nd generation Britons, that its passion must be tempered by compassion and argued that the era of dominant cartel was coming to an end in everything from banking to politics.

2.45 Ukip win Clacton, Douglas Carswell is Ukip’s first elected MP with more than 60% of the vote

2.35am Result coming very soon now

2.15 The BBC’s Chris Mason is reporting that Douglas Carswell will have a 12 thousand plus majority, a quite remarkable result

2.05am Labour MP John Mann, a frequent critics of the leadership, has responded on Twitter to the Heywood and Middleton by saying,  ‘ Ed Miliband does a lot of listening.