A recurring theme is that people voted for change by voting for a government that has been in power for 11 years. This misses some psychology. For starters the government achieved a big change very recently - Brexit.

That may not be a change that I like, but it was a change that many desired. Ask the electorate in Hartlepool for instance. In addition, the leadership over those 11 years has changed three times. A lot of people won't see this as the same party as David Cameron or Theresa May.

Although there are negative effects of that decision, the pandemic has clouded them. In addition, the effects of pandemic are easing and the vaccination programme has gone well. Some will see our high death rate as a national issue. I think a lot will see it as a global one.

Governing parties have done well in Scotland and Wales - in Wales Labour have done well, against the pattern in England. Governments have probably benefitted from their visibility through the pandemic, while opposition struggles for media space.

Labour has to change in my opinion. It can't win the socially conservative vote and the socially liberal vote without repelling both. The progressive parties probably have to start working together.

Votes that used to split between Tories, UKIP and RefUK/Brexit Party are nearly all going to the Tories now. The Greens, Labour and LibDems are splitting the progressive vote three ways. Bright spots like Cambridgeshire show what a bit of working together can achieve.

All in all, this election cycle benefitted the Tories through timing, strategy and consolidation in my opinion. It's not the end of the world, but the progressives have to find a new way forward, and that will require some abandonment of idealism.