So we wake up to a Labour government, a new prime minister in Sir Keir Starmer and a new start for the British economy.
Over the past 10 hours the results rolled in, snacks have been eaten and there is an overwhelming Labour majority in the 2024 UK General Election with more than 410 seats declared for them.
The LibDems have won the most seats ever for many decades, proving the anti-Conservative murmurs that started in 2021 as 'Partygate' unfolded grew to a crescendo through the cost of living crisis and the disastrous era of the Lettuce-Kwarteng "mini-Budget" of 2022.
Sixteen front bench ministers have lost their seats, including Liz Truss, and now we have a new governing party, coming into the election with what the former shadow chancellor - no doubt to be named as actual chancellor - Rachel Reeves - stressed was a "fully costed manifesto".
During the first days of campaigning after soaked Sunak precipitated the nation into a July 4 election, Labour unveiled a plan which, they say, was 14 years in the making.
It said: "Our plan for Britain is a fully costed, fully funded, credible plan to turn the country around after 14 years of the Conservatives. It contains a tax lock for working people – a pledge not to raise rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT."
This contrasts with the warnings of former chief secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott, who told the dwindling Tory party faithful they'd "better start saving now" because Labour was coming for "your car, your house, your schools and your pension".
Scaremongering words, and perhaps these warnings have been lurking at the backs of Britons' minds, even as they swung their votes away from the Conservatives towards Labour (or to Reform).
But with promises to maintain the triple lock, build at least 300,000 homes a year, implement a wide-ranging pension review and improve Britain's creaking social care services, we're now all hoping Labour will come good on these promises, without deepening the debt burden of the UK.
So what are the next steps, apart from making sure your middle-class clients stop buying avocados and lattes so they can put more aside to cover the VAT on school fees?
Quite frankly, there are four main steps to follow now. They all carry the same message.
Wait.
Wait for the new cabinet to be formed, so that we can see who will be the ministers responsible for housing, pensions, social care and the like.
Wait until the next Budget, which should be held in mid-late September at the earliest.
Wait for the Office for Budget Responsibility, which will now need at least 10 weeks' notice to start preparing its fiscal analysis and forecasts before the new government can hold a Budget (hence September is the earliest we can expect Starmer-Reeves' first Budget).
