Donald Trump has appeared to concede the US election for the first time, saying that president-elect Joe Biden “won”.

He made the admission in a tweet along with more unfounded claims the vote was rigged against him.

Mr Trump wrote of his soon-to-be successor: “He won because the election was rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a radical left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!”

It is a significant acknowledgement from Mr Trump, who despite losing both the Electoral College and popular vote has refused to follow tradition and accept the result.

Last week he became the first president since 1992 to fail to get re-elected, following projections Mr Biden had successfully swung the key states of Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia to win the White House.

Since then, the Republican incumbent has launched legal challenges and tried to undermine the validity of the result – but failed to produce any significant evidence of the mass ballot stuffing and voter fraud he is alleging.