Brexit: What happens now December 2019 - January 2020: Parliament votes on Boris Johnson's Brexit deal. MPs will be called back to Parliament in the Christmas period so that Mr Johnson can meet the January 31 deadline to take Britain out of the EU. The Commons needs to pass legislation in the form of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to make that happen. With a huge majority, it should pass easily, with all Mr Johnson's election candidates in favour of it. January 31, 2020: After Boris Johnson's deal is approved, Britain will leave the European Union on January 31. This will be a symbolic moment nearly four years after the Brexit referendum. British MEPs will no longer sit in the European Parliament and UK ministers will not take part in European Council meetings. However, Britain will initially remain in the EU's customs union and single market under the transitional arrangements. In addition, the UK will still apply most of EU law during the transition period. The UK will then begin talks over a new trade and security partnership. December 31, 2020: The transition period ends, unless extended. Any such extension would have to be decided by July 2020. Britain can ask to extend the period for one or two years, but Mr Johnson has said he will not negotiate a delay. January 2021: Britain begins its new relationship with the EU. Without a new deal, or an extension to the transition period, cross-Channel trade, transportation and a multitude of other ties risk being severely disrupted. Advertisement

Jubilant Brexiteers are celebrating tonight as exit polls put Boris Johnson on course for a large majority - meaning he is set to take Britain out of the EU on January 31.

On hearing the result, Nigel Farage claimed victory and hinted that he could retire from frontline politics, despite his Brexit Party on course to end up with zero seats.

Boris Johnson will now use his expected majority to push his deal through parliament and take the UK out of the EU on January 31.

Britain will then enter the transition period until the end of December 2020 during which the UK and EU will negotiate the shape of their future trading relationship.

The transition is a period of time where all of the current rules stay the same allowing the UK and the EU to negotiate.

Once Britain has left the EU, the Tory government plans to introduce an 'Australian-style' points-based system to manage immigration.

Every Tory candidate has backed Mr Johnson's deal, meaning that the withdrawal agreement bill should have a comfortable passage through Parliament.

Mr Johnson repeatedly said during the campaign that finishing Brexit would allow the government to turn its attention to the 'priorities of the British people'.

'Get Brexit done and we can focus our hearts and our minds on the priorities of the British people because it is this One Nation Tory party that is already embarked on the biggest cash boost for the NHS for a generation,' the Prime Minister said at the manifesto launch in Telford.

The UK will then begin talks over a new trade and security partnership.

The transition period could be extended beyond December 2020, but such a delay would have to be agreed by July and Mr Johnson has said he does not want one.

Speaking to BBC News, Mr Farage said: 'I can tell you that if we had stood in every seat in the country it would have been a hung parliament.

'That would have been a disaster ... I think the Liberal Democrats would have won an awful lot of seats.'

Nigel Farage claims that standing his party down helped deliver Boris Johnson's huge majority

On Mr Johnson's Brexit deal, Mr Farage said: 'If the current treaty on the table with the political declaration passes unamended I can't bring myself to support it.

'Look, I've spent my political career trying to get Brexit, alright. We're going to get Brexit. Are we going to get the right one? Maybe not.'

Mr Farage also bragged that his party 'killed' the Liberal Democrats and 'hurt' Labour.

However, he admitted he had spoiled his own ballot paper.

Asked if he will now step down from politics, he said: 'Let's see where we are in six months - I may have to throw my hat back into the ring.'

He also said he could go to the US for 'two weeks' to speak at Donald Trump rallies.

Labour's John McDonnell suggested that Brexit was the main reason for Labour's heavy defeat.

The Shadow Chancellor said: 'I actually think Brexit did dominate this election and that's exactly what people have made their minds up.

'They wanted... it is... well, I hate to use the expression, I think they probably did want to get it done, and that'll be it.'

Mr McDonnell added: 'I'm not sure Brexit will be done as a result of this. I think what will happen... people, I think, almost in despair, wanted to get Brexit over and done with because they've had enough of what's been going on.'

He said people will be met with 'disappointment' because 'Brexit isn't going away', adding: 'What will happen is there'll be negotiations for a long period of time with our European partners and anybody else.'

Jeremy Corbyn failed to make his position on Brexit clear throughout the election, instead promising a new deal and a second referendum next year.

Under his plans, a Labour government would have negotiated a different deal to Mr Johnson's, before putting it to the people within six months.

However, Labour's crushing defeats leaves Mr Johnson free to pursue his plan and promises to end three years of Brexit chaos.

Johnson's victory, if confirmed by official results, also sounds the death knell for hopes among Remainers that Britain might reverse Brexit through a second referendum.

After the shock exit poll was announced, Brexiteers flocked to social media to celebrate.

Former UKIP MP Douglas Carswell wrote: 'Well done Hugh Grant. Tony Blair. Chris Patten. Dom Grieve. And all the other Brexit blockers.'

Piers Morgan wrote: 'Britain will now get Brexit done.'

Mr Johnson is now free to pursue his Brexit deal if the exit poll holds true.

He struck a revised Brexit deal with Brussels earlier this year, removing the much-derided 'backstop' from the agreement reached by Theresa May.

However, Mr Johnson could not get it through Parliament before the previous October 31 deadline.

That impasse prompted Mr Johnson to demand the general election, which Mr Corbyn eventually agreed to.

Jeremy Corbyn gives a thumbs up after casting his vote in the 2019 General Election at the polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington, north London

The pound also surged dramatically after the exit poll was announced.

It jumped over two cents against the dollar, to $1.3445, the highest in more than a year and a half.

Many investors hope a Conservative win would cement the the country's impending departure from the European Union and ease, at least in the short term, some of the uncertainty that has corroded business confidence since Britons voted in 2016 to leave the bloc.

If the exit poll proves to be true Labour's tally would be even worse than their previous low watermark under Michael Foot in 1983 when it crashed to just 209 MPs.

Mr Corbyn will now face immediate and intense pressure to quit as Labour leader after failing to get anywhere close to winning power in back to back elections.