DHAKA: David Cameron has returned to Downing Street with the Tories having defied polls and won the UK general election-2015.

The Conservatives made gains in England and Wales and are forecast by the BBC to secure 331 seats in the Commons, giving them a slender majority.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said he would stand down on Friday, saying his party must ‘rebuild’ with a new leader, reports the BBC.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has also said he will quit, with his party set to be reduced from 57 to eight MPs.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage is also quitting after he failed to win Thanet South, losing by nearly 2,800 votes to the Conservatives.

The Conservatives have now won the 326 seats needed to form a majority administration, meaning they are able to govern without the need for a coalition or formal agreement with other parties.

Cameron all but declared victory in a speech after being returned as MP for Witney, in which he set out his intention to press ahead with an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union and to complete the Conservatives' economic plan.

‘My aim remains simple - to govern on the basis of governing for everyone in our United Kingdom,” he said.

“I want to bring our country together, our United Kingdom together, not least by implementing as fast as we can the devolution that we rightly promised and came together with other parties to agree both for Wales and for Scotland.”

“In short, I want my party, and I hope a government I would like to lead, to reclaim a mantle that we should never have lost - the mantle of One Nation, One United Kingdom. That is how I will govern if I am fortunate enough to form a government in the coming days.”

Cameron later returned to Downing Street with his wife Samantha and is now having an audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

BDST: 1914 HRS, MAY 08, 2015
BD/RS