The results of the General Election are in, and they represent a tremendous vindication of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour left, who have insisted since he was put on the ballot two years ago that Labour can and would make gains running from the left, and that there is a route to power that doesn’t involve triangulating the Tories, or compromising on key issues such as austerity. Jeremy Corbyn stood on a platform of investing in public services, standing up for workers’ rights, moving to a more just and fair foreign policy, and has been rewarded with a quite remarkable turnaround in the Labour vote.

How remarkable? Well, with all seats bar Kensington declared (yes, Labour are in with a chance of winning Tory safe seat Kensington, which has gone to several recounts), Labour sit on 261, up 32 seats from the start of the election, with the Tories denied an outright majority on 317 – having lost a net 13 seats.

Labour secured 40% of the popular vote, 10% up on Miliband in 2015, 11% up on Brown in 2010. Their vote share is higher than at any General Election in the past forty years except 1997 – meaning, as we pointed out was possible several weeks ago, Corbyn has outdone Blair in terms of vote share in not one but two of his elections – along with Miliband, Brown, Kinnock twice, Callaghan and Wilson twice.. Labour won over twelve million votes, three million more than under Ed Miliband. He has gained more seats than Neil Kinnock did in 1987, when he was allowed to continue as leader.

The seats that Labour has won are remarkable in themselves. Student cities with younger voters proved crucial in Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Portsmouth, Canterbury, Lincoln, Plymouth, Warwick, Reading, and Bristol. It was fitting that Nick Clegg should fall victim to a youth turnout surge. Labour even took Canterbury, a seat that has had a Tory MP since it was created in 1885 – when William Gladstone was prime minister. Many seats that were Tory safe seats in 2015 have become marginals, making a roadmap to victory in 2022 (or more likely, much, much earlier) very plausible.

During the campaign itself, Jeremy Corbyn turned around a poll deficit of 22, to just 2. He inspired a historic turnout of young voters – as much as 72% according to some sources – with eye-catching pledges on tuition fees and a £10 minimum wage, which would hugely benefit younger, poorly-paid workers.

What is for certain is that Corbyn is here to stay. Tom Watson, Chuka Umunna, Owen Smith and other leading critics all conceded on air last night that Corbyn would not be going anywhere. The surge of new left MPs, like Marsha de Cordova in Battersea, Lloyd Russell-Moyle in Brighton Kemptown, and of course the return of Chris Williamson in Derby North, mean that in future another candidate from Labour’s left might be able to make a leadership election ballot without charity nominations.

Who thought this was possible? Several media outlets have pointed out that YouGov’s polling model, which predicted Labour gains and a hung parliament, has been proved right. But there are others too. The Labour Left for the past two years have had to endure ridicules, being told we represented the ‘loony left’, and that Jeremy Corbyn was unelectable, or that he would destroy the Labour party. That all seems ridiculous this morning. We have been vindicated.

Labour’s manifesto will not be going anywhere. Our ideas can be developed and refined, but there will be no turning back the clock. We have waited years to have the opportunity to show what a Left-led Labour Party could do – and after such a historic night, we are not going anywhere.