Liveblogs

Lee Anderson has become the Reform Party’s first MP.

He has won the Ashfield seat in a 34% swing from the Conservatives with.

Mr Anderson defected from the Tories, and took it with a 5,000-plus majority.

Here are the figures for Richmond & Northallerton:

• Verified papers – 48,636
• Turnout percentage – 65.8%

The Hull Road ward win is a good result for Labour who have retained overall control of York council.

But the Lib Dems ran Labour close, coming within 200 votes.

The full results are:

• John Moroney – Labour 1,203
• Andrew Mortimer – Liberal Democrat – 1,008
• Ben French – Green 602
• Ellis Holden – Conservative 314

The turnouts for both York constituencies are in. And they’re not impressive.

Turnouts

• York Central – 56%
• York Outer – 68%

That’s a big drop from 2019 when York Central turnout was 69%, and York Outer 76%.

Liberal Democrat candidate Tom Gordon has won Harrogate and Knaresborough in the party’s first victory of the night, with 23,976 votes.

That’s a gain from the Conservatives.

Novelty candidates Count Binface and the Monster Raving Looney Party’s Sir Archibald Stanton arrived at the Richmond and Northallerton count within minutes of each other.

Sir Archibald and his entourage entered with a cheer in their colourful suits and top hats.

Sir Archibald wore a red suit covered in red bats and carried a wooden puppet wearing a name badge which read Gilly Nicholls.

Not longer afterwards Count Binface also entered the leisure centre hall.

Labour are out in force here at York Racecourse for tonight’s counts. York Central candidate Rachael Maskell is here, as is the new York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith, leader of City of York Council Claire Douglas and deputy leader Pete Kilbane.

For the Conservatives, their York Central candidate Richard Hudson is here, but there’s no sign yet of Julian Sturdy, fighting to keep his York Outer seat.

The Lib Dems’s York Outer candidate Andrew Hollyer is here too.

Lars Kramm has been talking to YorkMix. He’s the Green Party candidate for York Central.

He is hopeful about the Greens taking two seats nationally – but worried about the rise of Reform under leader Nigel Farage – they are predicted to take 13 seats.

“Generally, it will be a good election for the Greens,” Lars said.

“And then the hard work will start because what is worrying is the big Reform vote that we’re seeing up and down the country. That is a mandate for all democratic, decent parties to say we need to reach out to these communities.

“We need to talk to people. We need to put our case out there that the easy solutions they’re offering are not a solution.

“We need to pull together to create a society, a community that works for everyone.”

Lee Taylor, the Reform UK candidate in Richmond and Northallerton, could be seen wandering the floor of the election count wearing the light blue rosette of his party.

Mr Taylor told the PA news agency he always expected to come “second from the beginning”, behind only incumbent Rishi Sunak, describing the contest for the constituency as a “race between myself and Rishi”.

“Labour has never had that many votes in this constituency. When insurgent parties like mine or Ukip come in, they normally beat Labour here,” he said, casting doubt on polling estimates about Labour’s chances.

The Reform candidate added: “The way that Reform UK wins is if Conservative voters swing towards Reform UK.

“It could happen, but as you know it is not just about issues and policies, it is about trust as well, and therefore by employing a speedy election it made it harder for me to gain that trust.”

Mr Taylor also spoke of his novel means of campaigning even in the “far reaches of the constituency”, telling PA a van had been “fashioned and designed” with onboard megaphones and Reform branding to broadcast his electoral message across that part of North Yorkshire.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of North Yorkshire Council and acting returning officer has this explainer on how they are counting and declaring seven seats tonight.

Labour shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has won the Houghton and Sunderland South constituency, in the first result of the night.

She said in her victory speech: “Tonight the British people have spoken, and if the exit poll this evening is again a guide to results across our country as it so often is, then after 14 years the British people have chosen change.

“They have chosen Labour and they have chosen the leadership of Keir Starmer. Today our country with its proud history has chosen a brighter future. The British people have decided that they believe as Labour believes that our best days lie ahead of us – hope and unity, not decline and division, stability over chaos.

“A government powered by hope, by the belief that tomorrow cannot just be different from today, but better. A government of service, a government with purpose above all to change our society for good.”

Ms Phillipson took 18,847 votes, ahead of Reform UK on 11,668, with the Conservatives on 5,514, the Liberal Democrats on 2,290 and The Green Party on 1,723. The turnout was 51.2%.

Here’s the first votes arriving in the sealed ballot boxes… It’s quite a rush!

It’s the second time in just over a year that the voters of Selby & Ainsty have been to the polls.

A byelection took place on 20 July 2023, following the announcement on 10 June that the Conservative Party MP, Nigel Adams, was standing down from Parliament with immediate effect.

The swing to Labour was a big shock for Rishi Sunak and the Tory government. When Keir Mather took the seat he was just 25, the youngest MP in the Commons, and therefore ‘Baby of the House’.

York Outer was a comfortable hold for Conservative Julian Sturdy in a four-horse race.

Mr Sturdy has held the seat since 2010. But it is a Labour target this time round – number 106 to be precise.

It’s probably a good idea to see our starting points! So here’s how all the constituencies voted last time around.

The last general election, in December 2019, saw the Conservative’s Boris Johnson pitted against Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, and turned out to be a decisive win for the Tories under their ‘Get Brexit Done’ slogan.

Nevertheless, it was a very comfortable victory for Labour’s Rachael Maskell in December 2019.

Good evening. And it could be a very historic evening. Over the next few hours, we will learn whether the polls were right, and whether a new government is about to take power.

This is our team reporting live this evening:

• Chris Titley is at York Racecourse, where there are three counts tonight – York Central, York Outer and the City of York Council by-election for Hull Road ward
• Ben Anderson is at Harrogate Convention Centre, where there are counts for Harrogate & Knaresborough, Wetherby & Easingwold, Selby and Skipton & Ripon
• Tim Lichfield is at Northallerton Leisure Centre for the Richmond & Northallerton declaration – featuring candidate Rishi Sunak.

We will have all the results from across North Yorkshire and be keeping you up-to-date with the national picture too.

Do send us your thoughts as the night progresses on email at [email protected], or on WhatsApp – 01904 375030.