LABOUR shrugged aside the low turnout across the country, declaring that they had "won the battle for ideas".

Chancellor Gordon Brown, the first Cabinet minister to be returned, pledged to put more money into public services.

Mr Brown enjoyed a comfortable victory in his constituency of Dunfermline East. He won 19,487 of the votes with a majority of 15,063 - down on the 18,751 majority he enjoyed in 1997.

He said there was public enthusiasm for a second Labour term. It was the first time in Labour's 100-year history that it has clinched the probability of two full terms in office.

Lower turnouts were being seen across the world and did not take away from the party's achievements, he said.

"This historic victory that the Labour Party won in this constituency and this country in 1997 has been again reaffirmed this evening," he said.

"I believe the scale of our victory and the wide margin between ourselves and our opponents reflect the fact that we have won not just the battle of votes but we are winning the battle of ideas.

"My pledge to this constituency and, indeed, my pledge to the country if we are re-elected as a government, is that we will continue the work we have started.

"We will build on the foundations of economic stability towards our goal of full employment in this country.

"We will tackle child and pensioner poverty wherever it is found, and we will fulfil the instruction that the country has given us this evening to put more into our public services, to put hospitals and schools first.

"It is a responsibility we relish, it is a duty to discharge this mandate for public services which has been given us by the people this evening, it is a mission that we will pursue in government."

After winning his Hull East seat, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott blamed the Conservatives' warning on the dangers of a Labour landslide for the poor turn-out.

He said: "The people have given us an overwhelming mandate and I am glad about that.

"That's the mandate and we start that tomorrow."

Labour deliberately avoided celebrating its landslide victory with a party when hundreds of staff and other guests gathered at the headquarters to watch the declaration results.

Scores of TV crews and journalists from the UK and around the world crowded into the offices at Millbank, in central London, but the atmosphere was decidedly low key.

Up to 300 Labour Party staff and guests, including union leaders and donors, were expected to pack into the ground floor of the building to watch the results on three giant TV screens.

They were offered kebabs, sandwiches and snacks as well as drinks and coffee to sustain them through the night.

But there were no champagne bottles in sight, and party officials were at pains to stress that the event was not a party.

Director of communications Lance Price said it was a "million miles" away from the huge show of triumphalism which greeted Tony Blair when he arrived for a giant celebration party at the Festival Hall on London's South Bank after his election victory in 1997.

He said: "That came at the end of 18 years of Conservative governments - but this time things are different.

"We have deliberately organised a much more low-key event. This is not a big party, it is just an opportunity for people to gather and watch the results."

Read more about the election here.