The Conservative Party has gained an outright majority in the General Election.

Following the surprise result - pollsters had predicted that the Conservatives and Labour would receive similar numbers of votes, and that neither party would gain an overall majority - Prime Minister David Cameron met with the Queen earlier today to accept a mandate to govern. The Tories attracted enough support in yesterday’s election to rule alone, claiming 330 of the 650 seats in the UK.

Leaders of contending parties Labour, UKIP and the Liberal Democrats - who saw their share of the vote collapse in yesterday’s election - all stepped down on Friday. Labour Leader Ed Miliband and deputy leader Harriet Harman both resigned on Friday afternoon, after Nick Clegg had stepped down as Lib Dem leader. Clegg narrowly clung on to his Sheffield Hallam seat.

UKIP’s Nigel Farage, who had promised to resign if he failed to gain the seat he was contesting in Thanet South, bowed out on Friday morning, stating that he was a man of his word. Farage did, however, leave the door open for a potential future leadership bid, stating that he would be taking the summer off.

Meanwhile in Scotland, the Scottish National Party claimed 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats to become the third largest party in the new Parliament.

Current Defra Secretary Elizabeth Truss successfully defended her seat in South-West Norfolk. Liberal Democrat contender and Former Defra Minister Dan Rodgerson lost his North Cornwall seat to Conservative candidate Scott Mann, while Conservative Defra minister George Eustice held on to his Camborne and Redruth seat.

Announcing that David Cameron has formed a government following the general election, Defra said it will be releasing details as new ministers are appointed.  

Rural policies were one of the key areas in which the big three political parties differed fundamentally in the run up to the election; the Conservatives promised to hold a vote on the future of the hunting ban and to roll out badger culling to new areas, whilst Labour had pledged to strengthen the ban and end the controversial badger culling trials as part of its Animal Welfare manifesto.

Whilst the Labour Party had promised to provide more protection for farmers by strengthening the role of the supermarket ombudsperson and develop a cohesive, cross-sectoral food policy to give direction to developments in food and farming, the Conservatives promised to apply pressure to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy, hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, roll out super-fast broadband to rural regions and reinvest in flood defences.