Ed Miliband announces his resignation as Labour Party leader

Ed Miliband has resigned as leader of the Labour party after his party suffered a night of devastating losses at the general election.

Mr Miliband said it was not the speech he wante d to make and he was tendering his resignation.

“I take absolute and total responsibility for the result. I’m so sorry to all of those colleagues who lost their seats,” he said.

“In a couple of hours I will no longer be leading this party.”

They announcements come as David Cameron, the Tory leader, is preparing to visit the Queen at Buckingham Palace to confirm his second term as prime minister.

Mr Miliband wrote on his Twitter page: “The responsibility for the result is mine alone.”

He is expected to announce he is standing in a public speech in central at midday.

Mr Miliband walked into Labour headquarters to address staff about 9.30am but he did not make a statement to media.

Labour is currently down 26 seats on its 2010 tally.

Mr Miliband is the third leader to announce his resignation on Friday. Liberal Democrats party leader Nick Clegg and Ukip’s Nigel Farage also said they would be standing down.

Mr Clegg said the Liberal Democrats has suffered a “catastrophic” defeat in the General Election.

“Clearly the results have been immeasurably more crushing and unkind than I could ever have feared. For that I must take responsibility and therefore I announce that I will be resigning as leader of the Liberal Democrats,” he said.

Mr Cameron’s stunning election victory in Britain overturned predictions that the vote would be the closest in decades to sweep into office for another five years.

Tories are close to having an overall majority, which would mean Mr Cameron no longer needs the Liberal Democrats, who he has governed since 2010.