Boris Johnson Returns to UK Parliament as a Winner

Boris Johnson is set for a victory lap in the north of England to meet with newly elected MPs as he celebrates his party’s biggest election win in 30 years.

The Prime Minister secured an 80-seat majority by sweeping aside Labour in its traditional heartland across the North and Midlands.

Some areas, such as Bishop Auckland in the North East, had never elected a Tory MP before Thursday.

Labour suffered its worst election result since the 1930s.

Mr Johnson called for unity in the country, urging “everyone to find closure and to let the healing begin” after more than three years of division.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he did "everything he could" to get Labour into power but expects to stand down "early next year" when a successor has been chosen by the party.

The Labour leader said the election was "taken over by Brexit", while others within the party blamed Mr Corbyn's leadership for the defeat.

In his victory speech outside Number 10, Mr Johnson said he would “work round the clock” to repay the trust of those who “voted for us for the first time” – including those whose “pencils may have wavered over the ballot and who heard the voices of their parents and their grandparents whispering anxiously in their ears”.

His comments were echoed by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, who said the Government would look to redirect investment towards those communities that did not feel as if they were being heard.

“We are very grateful to these traditional Labour voters, in many cases, for lending us their support on this occasion, perhaps because of Brexit,” Mr Jenrick told BBC’s Newsnight.

“We need to earn that trust now and hopefully we will have five years ahead of us to do that.”

Mr Johnson will make the first move to show newly-elected MPs that the concerns of their constituents will be heard with a visit on Saturday to some of those who overturned a Labour majority.

He told members at an early morning rally in Westminster that, in order to retain their newfound support, the party would have to change some of its priorities.