LONDON (AFP) - Two party leaders lost their seats in Britain's election, while several high-profile campaigners against Brexit were also ousted.

Ms Jo Swinson, the leader of the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats, was the biggest casualty of Thursday's (Dec 12) vote after losing her seat to the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Mr Nigel Dodds, the Westminster leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which propped up the previous Conservative government, also lost his seat in Belfast.

Former Conservative attorney-general Dominic Grieve, who led attempts to give Parliament a greater say over how and when Britain leaves the European Union, failed to become an independent MP.

Mr Grieve was expelled from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative party for rebelling over Brexit.

Two others who were also expelled, former Cabinet minister David Gauke and Ms Anne Milton, also failed to be re-elected as independents.

Another leading Tory critic of Brexit, Ms Anna Soubry, failed to win election as a member of her own new party.

Former Conservative London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, the brother of Ms Jemimah Goldsmith, the former wife of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, also lost his seat in the capital.

Ms Luciana Berger, who left the main opposition Labour party over its handling of anti-Semitism, had sought a new seat for the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats in London, but was defeated.