Boris Johnson visits north-east England in lap of victory

Boris Johnson visited northeastern England on Saturday, the UK region that handed him a resounding victory and re-election on Thursday.

Voters there who have historically voted Labour switched to his Conservative Party after it campaigned to "get Brexit Done."

"I know that people may have been breaking the voting habits of generations to vote for us," he told supporters in Sedgefield, which used to be in Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair's constituency.

"And I want the people of the Northeast to know that we in the conservative body, and I, will repay your trust."

Meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party were reflecting on their worst election result since 1935.

Its shadow finance minister John McDonnell said it was time for the party to move on.

"We'll all go, now the new leader will come in place, appoint the shadow cabinet - I won't be part of that shadow cabinet, you know, I've done my bit, we need to move on at that stage with that new leader," he said.

But Boris Johnson has a problem: Scotland voted overwhelmingly for a party that wants independence. It gained 48 of the 59 seats on offer.

The leader of the Scottish National Party, Nicola Sturgeon, said that meant there was now a mandate for a second independence referendum.

In the first one in 2014, 45 per cent of Scotland voted for independence.