Cameron Closes In On Shock Majority Victory

David Cameron has left Downing Street to go to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen as projections show he is expecting to win with a majority government.

:: UPDATE Cameron Goes To Queen As New PM - get the latest here

Despite months of polls forecasting a close-fought contest, a Sky News projection suggests the Conservatives will win 328 seats in the House of Commons, after a collapse in support for both Labour and the Liberal Democrats , giving Mr Cameron a majority of six.

"This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative party," Mr Cameron said after retaining his Witney seat.

However, the victory still means he will have to govern with a far slimmer majority than John Major in 1992 when the party won with a 21-seat margin.

Mr Cameron is back in London and walked back into Downing Street shortly before 8am. He is expected to go to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen at 12.30pm.

Ed Miliband's party had high hopes in the run up to the vote but the rise of the Scottish National Party has left his plans in tatters and the loss of shadow chancellor Ed Balls came as the most significant blow.

The Labour leader has returned to London and is expected to resign in the coming hours.

Nick Clegg quit as leader after the Lib Dems suffered an electoral nightmare with several senior MPs, including Vince Cable, Danny Alexander and Simon Hughes, losing their seats.

Nigel Farage failed to win the seat of South Thanet - instead it went to the Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay. The UKIP leader also announced he was resigning but indicated he could run again in any leadership contest.

Boris Johnson, who returned to Parliament as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, said: "It's an astonishing night for the Conservatives.

"If you consider where we were only a few hours ago which was looking at polls saying it is neck and neck, it turns out the British people have the most amazing surprise up their sleeve."

However, the Conservatives did lose employment minister Esther McVey in Wirral West.

The Sky News projection puts the Conservatives on 328 seats, Labour on 233, the Scottish National Party on 56, the Liberal Democrats on 8, UKIP on two, Plaid Cymru on three and the Green party on one.

The markets rallied and the pound made big strides against the dollar as the picture emerged of a majority win for the Conservatives.

Mr Miliband's disastrous night, which saw both Scottish Labour Party leader Jim Murphy and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander losing to the SNP, has led to intense speculation about his future.

One source told Sky News: "He won't make ... lunchtime".

Speaking after holding his Doncaster seat, Mr Miliband said: "It's clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labour party.

"We have not made the gains we wanted in England and Wales and in Scotland we have seen a surge of nationalism overwhelm our party."

The Scottish National Party arrived as a real force in Westminster, winning an unprecedented 52 seats.

Leader Nicola Sturgeon said: "Whatever the Government is that emerges at Westminster, they cannot ignore what has happened in Scotland."

UKIP endured a night of frustration compounded by Mark Reckless losing the Rochester and Strood seat he won in last year's by-election.

Douglas Carswell, who held the seat he was re-elected to after defecting from the Conservative Party in 2014, hit out at the "dysfunctional" political system and said around five million people had cast their ballot for UKIP - but would "be lucky to get a tiny handful of MPs".