Starmer won 56.2% of the vote, Rayner becomes Deputy leader with 52.6% of the vote - this is all happening on line but this is a huge sigh of relief for many in the Labour Party, including some of those who backed Corbyn who just want an end to the era of so much bitterness

Starmer won more than twice as many votes as Long Bailey - very convincing win, Rayner also won more than twice as many votes as her nearest competitor

Whatever your own politics this is a really big moment - Labour could now be an opposition that gets things done + carries out effective scrutiny - irrespective of anyone's ideas, Labour under Corbyn struggled ever to do that

It's not healthy in our political system to have a govt without effective opposition - it makes the compass wonky, Starmer has a massive task to get the Party to start working in that way again, actually, to make it function in a way that's anything like normal

Labour fell SO far behind in the last few years, when Starmer says it's a 'mountain to climb' - it's like crossing the Himalayas without oxygen - but the party is HUGE, and Corbyn created a massive membership base

Remember too in Dec, many voters we talked to expressed no particular affection for Johnson or the Tories, but they were unimpressed with Labour on Brexit and simply couldn't imagine Corbyn on the steps of Downing Street - nothing is inevitable about the 2024 election

But Starmer's first steps in these first few weeks will matter enormously - loads more on @BBCNews today so will end this rather unwieldy thread here, but Starmer's first big interview as leader is tomorrow on @BBCPolitics with @AndrewMarr9