General election 2019: The standout moments across England

The Conservatives swept aside Labour in its traditional heartlands as the party headed for its biggest majority since the 1980s. As the night unfolded, so did the drama.

From stunning victories and losses to marooned ballot boxes, there were some standout moments across England in the 2019 general election.

The action got under way in the North East when Newcastle beat rival Sunderland to reveal the first result of the night - and that region is where the early focus remained.

The first evidence that something dramatic was happening saw a shock in Blyth Valley, a former mining area and Labour heartland since 1950, which was taken by the Conservatives.

Ian Levy got 17,440 votes, beating the Labour candidate by more than 700.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg called it "remarkable" and a "symbolic moment". And from there, the Tories continued their sweep of the North.

A scuffle broke out as Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell was declared winner in Hayes and Harlington.

Cries of "liar" and "terrorist" rang out as Mr McDonnell was giving his acceptance speech. Police had to intervene to temper the disturbance.

Mr McDonnell, who won the seat with a 9,000-vote majority, said: "It is quite clear that there are fears also now for our democracy and the rise of the extreme right.

"But I say now we will organise and we will ensure this type of democracy will reign, and the democratic wishes of our people will be respected, and this sort of extreme right-wing violence will not be tolerated within our society."

Meanwhile, counting was delayed on the Isles of Scilly off Cornwall because of strong gales.

Papers were due to be collected by boat at 01:00 GMT and taken to the largest island, St Mary's.

Cornwall Council said it would make a "weather-dependent" decision at 05:45 GMT about whether a helicopter or boat would collect the papers.

But the weather continued to hamper efforts in the early hours, which left an afternoon count looking likely.

Labour's Stella Creasy was re-elected as the MP for Walthamstow and appeared at the count with her two-week-old daughter, Hettie, sleeping in a sling.

Ms Creasy is the UK's first MP to have a "locum MP" to provide maternity cover.

She won with 36,784 votes, far ahead of her nearest rival Conservative Shade Adoh, who had 5,922.

Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner lost the Bolsover seat he had held for 49 years.

The 87-year-old was beaten by Conservative candidate Mark Fletcher by 5,299 votes.

Skinner - nicknamed the Beast of Bolsover - had been defending a majority of 5,288 achieved in 2017.

The former miner and prominent ally of party leader Jeremy Corbyn was not at the count when the result was announced.

Independent candidate Bobby "Elmo" Smith received eight votes in Uxbridge and Ruislip South against winner Boris Johnson's 25,351.

It was an increase on his last election run out - Elmo received three votes when he stood against Theresa May in Maidenhead in 2017.

As all the drama unfolded, people at counts across England wore Christmas jumpers to give the election a festive feel.

They included Conservative candidate for Mansfield, Ben Bradley, who turned up in relaxed fashion at the count at the Civic Centre wearing a Christmas jumper that said just chillin'.

Mr Bradley said it was national Christmas Jumper Day on Friday and felt happy with how things had gone on the election trail.

And he had good reason to - he successfully defended his seat with a 17.3% increase in vote share.