Wes Streeting called on Theresa May to resign after “gambling with our country’s future” and offered Jeremy Corbyn some unlikely praise after securing Ilford North for Labour.

Today’s election results saw Mr Streeting cling tightly to his seat with 57.8 per cent of the vote, increasing his majority by 13.9 per cent.

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After thanking his campaign team, friends, and family, he spoke about the fight that lies ahead both locally and nationally for Labour.

In his speech he said: “The people of Ilford North have sent a strong message with this vote.

“Firstly to Jeremy Hunt who tried to pull the wool over our eyes about the closure of King George Hospital’s A&E.

“To Justine Greening who said no Ilford North school will face budget cuts even as head teachers are already laying off staff and sending begging letters to parents because they can’t afford resources.

“And to Theresa May – the strong and stable leader who turned out to be weak and wobbly.

“And what hubris to gamble with our country’s future and to plunge it into uncertainty all for her own self-interest.”

He added that Mrs May’s “astonishing miscalculation and misjudgement” should mean she resigns as Prime Minister immediately.

Asked what he thought ensured his victory, he told the Guardian: “I think we fought on the right issues locally.

“People have seen my track record as a local MP in the last couple of years and know I’m rooted in and connected with the key issues in the community.

“I’m proud we fought on those issues and I think nationally people looked at the two parties and thought Theresa May was pretty arrogant and saw Labour as a far more optimistic and hopeful vision for the country.”

Despite being one of his most staunch critics in the past, Mr Streeting went on to congratulate his party leader Jeremy Corbyn on his bittersweet 29-seat gain nationwide.

He said: “One of the things I admire about Jeremy Corbyn is his authenticity and plain speaking.

“I’m not going to pretend to have changed all my views on him just off the back of a set of election results, but I genuinely think we could not have asked more of him during this campaign.

“I think we’ve seen him at his very best and Theresa May at her very worst.”

Pressed on the challenges the next “turbulent” Parliamentary term will present for Labour, Mr Streeting called for party unity.

He said: “We need to come together as a Labour party to work out why we made gains in certain areas and not others.

“Also because we want to provide an effective opposition so that next time we’re in a position to actually win a majority.

“There are no second prizes in politics and a lot of things I wanted to see go into the Labour manifesto won’t happen now because we didn’t get a majority overall.”

Finally he said crime and policing will join the NHS and education on his list of priorities when Parliament returns next week.

He added: “I’ve been really taken aback by the extent to which anti-social behaviour and drug dealing has become an issue across my constituency.

“I think people feel the police are invisible, while they are overstretched and under resourced and that’s having a real impact on the quality of life in Redbridge.”

Meanwhile Theresa May has promised to “provide certainty” and continue with the existing Brexit timetable, despite failing to win an overall majority.