How the exit poll in 1992 predicted a hung parliament – but Tories still bagged a majority

THE 1992 General Election saw the exit poll predicting a hung parliament but a slim Tory majority shocked the pundits and proved the polls wrong.

Polls showed a hung parliament was likely right up until the result when John Major led the Conservatives to victory - in one of the most dramatic elections since the end of the Second World War.

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The turnout for voters in 1992 was the highest in 18 years, in an election which saw Labour and the Tories neck and neck as the result loomed - before the exit poll delivered the verdict of a hung parliament.

After the polls closed the BBC and ITV continued to predict "the Conservatives would only just get more seats than Labour".

But the Conservatives received the most total votes ever for a political party in any UK general election in 1992 as the party went against the prediction and gained the win - breaking the record set by Labour in 1951.

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In 1992 the Tories won 336 seats, Labour won 271 and the Lib Dems won 20.

In a shock exit poll prediction ahead of the results of the 2017 General Election the Conservatives faced a hung parliament, which became a reality in the early hours of Friday.

Some of the key details from the turbulent night so far:

• Hung parliament confirmed with Tories missing out on majority of 326 with polls predicting 318 seats - down from 330
• Labour forecast to take 262 - up from 232 in 2015. They are
• Theresa May faces mounting pressure – with the odds slashed on Boris Johnson to be the next PM
• Fears grow Brexit negotiations could be sunk if Mrs May does not secure a majority
• Lib Dem Nick Clegg loses Sheffield Hallam seat but Vince Cable regains Twickenham while leader Tim Farron clings on
• Home Secretary Amber Rudd holds on to Hastings seat by barely 300 votes
• Huge losses for SNP as former chief Alex Salmond and deputy leader Angus Robertson are both beaten by the Tories.
• Labour on march in London beating Tories to Battersea constituency
• Pound slides two per cent as exit poll predicts hung parliament
• Ukip voters desert party with vote share down by ten per cent
• Growing fears that Mrs May will have to call a second election later this year

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