HANDS up - we got it wrong. That was the admission from the York-based data analyst who predicted the election would result in a hung Parliament - and that Julian Sturdy would lose in York Outer.

Steve Brewer of Text Mining Solutions used a sophisticated computer algorithm to process more than 50 million tweets before arriving at his predictions. He forecast that the Conservatives would lose almost 30 seats compared to 2017, while Labour would pick up 24, leaving the Tories with the most seats but no overall majority. In fact, Boris Johnson's party won a thumping majority, while Labour slumped to its worst result for decades. Julian Sturdy also held on to York Outer.

Mr Brewer admitted he got it 'spectacularly wrong' on the overall result and on York Outer - although he stresses that no-one, pollsters included, really foresaw the scale of the Tory victory. He also points out that his predictions for Scotland - that Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson would lose her seat as the SNP dominated north of the border- were pretty much spot on.

So what next for Mr Brewer? He'll look at what went wrong - then tweak his model so he does better next time, he says.