BRITAIN'S voters yesterday gave Tony Blair the trust he had asked for throughout the General Election campaign in spectacular fashion.

Labour was headed for its biggest election win since it was founded at the beginning of this century.

It soon became clear that Mr Blair would today become the youngest Prime Minister this century, just four days short of his 44th birthday.

Computer forecasts were that Labour would have a landslide majority of between 150 and 200 in the new House of Commons.

The Conservatives faced the prospect of recording their worst election result - with possibly under 30% of the total vote - since the election of 1832 under the leadership of the Duke of Wellington.

Shadow Scottish Secretary George Robertson who saw an 8% swing to Labour from the Conservatives in retaining his Hamilton South seat said: ''It is clear that there is going to be a Labour Government.''

The safe Labour seat of Sunderland South, the first to declare, showed a 10.5% swing from the Conservatives to Labour.

Early results pointed to a glory May Day for Labour but a Mayday of another kind for the Conservatives facing a crushing defeat after 18 continuous years in office and four election wins.

It opens up the prospect of a bitterly contested leadership election sooner or later this year after Mr Major steps down. It also increases the likelihood of a historic Tory split on Europe with some pro-EU Conservatives MPs defecting to the Liberal Democrats or Labour.

Tories were queuing up to apportion blame, and say where they thought their party went wrong and where it should go now, some even before the first result was declared.

Mrs Edwina Currie, in Derbyshire South, said: ''The vote was decided a long time ago. I'm not sure the campaign made a scrap of difference, except in this sense, that it's clear that going Euro-sceptic did not help the Conservatives one jot.

''It did not bring in extra votes. In fact, I think it drove some more voters away.''

Asked if Mr Major should ''hang about'', she said: ''I know some of my pro-European colleagues feel he should stay until October or November, for the sake of party unity, but I think that would be a disaster, and a tragedy for the man.

''My preference is that we should get the leadership contest under way as soon as this election is out of the way.''

Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine said: ''If we have lost, then there have to be a lot of questions asked and a lot of answers produced.''

On the campaign, he said: ''We have absolutely nothing to gain from a debate when one person says one thing and one says another. It may be best for the media, but it is not the best for the Conservative Party.''

He added: ''It is very important to have a period of reflection, of internal analysis, and to realise the first priority now is to organise the fightback of the Conservative Party.''

Asked about the leadership, he praised Mr Major's achievements, but added: ''It could be that it won't be him that takes that forward.''

Shortly after 10pm, when exit polls were predicting a huge Labour win, Defence Secretary Michael Portillo, asked what had been his party's biggest mistake, said: ''I think the thing the party needs to reflect on is that it has done itself no good by showing its divisions.''

His comment produced a high level squabble. Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind immediately said that he had ''a record of saying unhelpful things and this is another example of the genre.''

Mr Rifkind told ITN that the splits in the Tory party over Europe had taken their toll.

''You can't have the appearance of disunity without some corrosive impact and we have to assume that's part of the difficulties we face,'' he said.

Mr Rifkind rushed to the defence of Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, saying: ''I know Ken Clarke very well. He is a man of great integrity and honesty. He speaks his mind and that has to be admired.''

Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell said: ''There will be lots of lessons to be learned, whatever the result.''

In Macclesfield Tory Nicholas Winterton got his recriminations in even before the polls closed, rounding on Mr Clarke.

He said: ''Kenneth Clarke was personally responsible for the poor Conservative General Election campaign.

''By forcing John Major to paint himself into a corner on Europe, by threatening to resign unless any digression from the 'wait-and-see' policy was ruled out, Kenneth Clarke denied John Major the room for manoeuvre which would have allowed a vote-winning complete rejection of a single currency during the campaign.''

Mr Winterton said people had wanted a clear commitment that the Tories would never take Britain into a single currency. This would have drawn a ''clear distinction'' between the Tories and both Labour and the Liberal Democrats and ''sent John Major sailing back to No 10 Downing Street with a clear majority and a mandate to defend the Union and prevent the creation of a United States of Europe''.

''By forcing the Prime Minister to nail his colours firmly to the fence, Kenneth Clarke denied us that option,'' he added.

''He will be remembered, even reviled in history for his actions.''

Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown described the result as ''not just a rejection of the Conservative Party but a vote for New Labour and a new type of politics to help the country prepare for the future.''

Mr Brown told ITN: ''We stood on a manifesto for change and will honour that, which is why we made a bond of trust with the British people.

''It's clear our supporters turned out and that the Conservatives have done very badly.

''People captured the message Tony Blair put across. We can break away from the old divisions and are determined to do that.''

Mr Brown added: ''It was precisely because of the breakdown in trust that we were very clear about our promises. What we have said, we will deliver, and I'm determined to do that.

''We want to have that bond of trust back again and I'm determined to play a part in building it.''

Asked about his planned summer budget Mr Brown confirmed: ''Within two months we will have a Budget to equip the people and get them back to work.

''We fully intend to keep our promises and will move very quickly.

''We made four commitment. One was not to raise the bottom and top rate of tax, secondly to cut VAT of fuel, thirdly not to extend VAT to food and children's clothing and fourthly to introduce the windfall levy on the utilities. That is what we will do.''