Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the centre-right Alliance, will start talks on forming a new Swedish government on Monday after defeating Prime Minister Göran Persson’s Social Democrats which have held power for 65 of the last 74 years.

Official results showed the Alliance’s four-party opposition bloc won 48.1 per cent of votes compared with 46.2 for the Social Democrats – a stunning rebuke for Mr Persson and the party that oversaw the creation of its world-famous welfare state.