Morning! Our full live stream from the count is below as we move back to the normal site – the live election results page can be found on Wrexham.com/electioncount2024/ :
LABOUR WIN MONTGOMERYSHIRE & GLYNDWR
A near 5am result in from the team at MyWelshpool.co.uk who report Labour have taken the new seat of Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr.
They say, “It’s a Labour victory with Steve Witherden claiming an historic win… more to come. He becomes the first Labour MP ever to represent Montgomeryshire with the ward expanded to Glyndwr.”
LABOUR WIN WREXHAM
Here is a clip of the result being announced, and speeches from Andrew Ranger, Sarah Atherton and Charles Dodman – and a quick first question to Wrexham’s new MP as he left the count floor.
There ends our live stream and updates for now, and Wrexham has a new MP – Labour’s Andrew Ranger.
A reminder, the final results were:
Sarah Atherton: 9,888
Andrew Ranger: 15,836
Rebecca Martin: 4,138
Tim Sly: 1,777
Tim Morgan: 1,339
Paul Ashton: 480
Charles Dodman: 6,915
That is a majority of 5,948. Turnout was 40,373.
The new Montgomeryshire & Glyndwr constituency is being counted elsewhere and appears will be a very late one – or early depending on your point of view, but we will bring you the result as soon as possible via MyWelshpool !
Speaking to Wrexham.com Wrexham’s new MP Andrew Ranger said he is looking forward to getting started and that his “door is open to everyone”
Labour WIN Wrexham
Sarah Atherton: 9,888
Andrew Ranger: 15,836
Rebecca Martin: 4,138
Tim Sly: 1,777
Tim Morgan: 1,339
Paul Ashton: 480
Charles Dodman: 6,915
Candidates being gathered to be told provisional result…
Ahead of the votes being declared in Wrexham, here are the 2019 results for reference
Conservative, Sarah Atherton 15,199 (45.3%)
Labour Co-op, Mary Wimbury 13,068 (39%)
Plaid Cymru, Carrie Harper 2,151 (16%)
Liberal Democrats, Tim Sly 1,447 (4.3%)
Brexit Party, Ian Berkeley-Hurst 1,222 (3.6)
Green, Duncan Rees 445 (1.3%)
Counting appears complete in Wrexham.
One table left counting here in Wrexham!
Having some issues with our livestream due to Wrexham Uni’s wifi deciding to drop in and out more often now, perhaps its tired…!
It looks like all the candidates are still here, which looking around the UK is not happening everywhere with some going home early. A bit of a hush in the hall currently, perhaps as the count has all but ended, but as we head past 2am there are quite a few tired people out there!
Looks as though there’s only two tables left to finish counting!
So up until 2019 Wrexham had been a safe seat for Labour for decades.
However with a 59% vote to leave the EU in 2016 and a ‘Boris Bounce’ five years ago Wrexham elected its first ever Conservative and female MP.
Sarah Atherton has stood for reelection but like other parties locally, there hasn’t been any high profile visits to help along the candidate trail.
Whereas in 2019 the vote saw a battle between Labour and Conservatives, this year the Reform UK vote will also be at play.
Interestingly our recent straw poll found that Reform UK and Conservatives were neck and neck for second and third, with indications that Labour could retake Wrexham in the early hours of this morning.
There is a definite lull now as we wait for the last few tables to count.
Food update: Jelly Babies, Cornflake cakes, Watermelon and Brownie Bites
Looks like ten tables now complete with an expectation we are told that the remaining ones will finish up pretty much at the same time. Once all done eyes will be to the right of the hall where the election officials tally up all the figures and run the checks and move towards The Result.
Seven tables now complete. Half way there.
3am was the target time for the result from Wrexham but it looks like it will be sometime after 2am, it is hard for the officials to give any exact time, but there appears quiet confidence Wrexham will be ahead of what was thought.
…and another has completed! The odd huddle over disputed ‘doubtful’ ballots as well.
One table looks as though it has finished counting! Don’t expect an imminent result though, there are 14 tables…
A couple of tables now have bundles being elastic banded up, and post-it noted which could indicate those bundles are complete. Could we be on for a 2:15am ish result? 3am was the stated guide time, but it feels like things are progressing.
Good morning to everyone still awake and following the election coverage. We’ve cracked out the jelly babies…!
There is busy lull in the hall. Busy with counting, but a lull in actually anything happening in terms of a result. Ballots are stacking up in the respective candidate trays on all tables. The mixing boxes where the ballots come from are looking emptier, so the count appears to be making good progress!
Sarah Atherton talking to a few fellow candidates, however we can’t spot an Atherton / Ranger conversation as of yet. Lots of very speedy counting taking place on all the tables around the hall.
The team at MyWelshpool are in it for the long haul tonight it seems! Polls closed almost two hours ago and the first Wrexham box has only just arrived at the count in Powys!
An interesting fact is that there are 74,039 eligible voters in the Montgomeryshire and Glwyndŵr constituency…
By the way… the first box of votes from the Glwyndŵr area is in – Chirk! @wrexham
— MyWelshpool (@mywelshpool) July 4, 2024
Party officials and volunteers are observing the count taking place, both to record data for their parties and future elections, but also to check the ballots and count process is taking place in a proper manner. This is all part of the oversight of the democratic process, and in a very small way this update / feed, and your eyeballs, are doing the same. Open democracy to show your X to the result!
That means we have a full house of all Wrexham candidates here at the count. One will emerge as Wrexham’s next MP.
Sarah Atherton is also in the sports hall, possibly brought a cake (unconfirmed, hard to tell at a distance!) and looks quite relaxed as well.
As you can see on the livestream a very relaxed and happy looking Andrew Ranger has just turned up..
Count underway as of 00:20As you can see on the feed the ballots have been dumped out of the ‘mixer’ boxes on to the tables for sorting into named trays. There is also a tray for ‘doubtful’ ballots which are then looked at separately.
We have turnout figures for Wrexham! A 57.64% turnout with 40,501 ballot papers being taken forward for the counting process.
Interestingly despite being a bigger constituency turnout was down on the 2019 general election which saw a turnout of 67.5%
Lots of checking of the maths by electoral officials taking place.
It is MIDNIGHT and we are delighted to report there are empty tables everywhere here at the Wrexham Uni sports hall. That should mean verification has completed, so we will get turnout and the count underway shortly. It is also getting a bit warm…
Still just that one table to be done… at that point we will be able to get the verification completion, turnout figure and then the count itself can start. A bit of a lag here on this last one but it looks like it is wrapping up.
Looks like there is just one table still verifying the votes. Great work by the counters!
Verification seems to still be underway on a couple of tables but they trays with candidate names are starting to be put out on some tables as you can see on our live feed.
The count could get underway shortly.
3am is currently the ETA on the results – so we are loading up on tea and snacks.
A few empty tables around in the hall, however that doesnt mean the result is anywhere near close. As explained below, this is the verification process. So a total of all ballots cast is taking place, then they are counted per candidate, and a result is known – and the two totals should match.
Once this bit is complete we will have the turnout figure, as how many people are eligible to vote is known, and we will know how many ballots are in the building. There is a bit of unknown over how long all this will take due to the constituency changes, meaning more to count!
A couple of candidates already here at the count – Tim Morgan from the Green Party was one the first to arrive we think, along with Tim Sly from the Liberal Democrats.
Also here at the moment is Charles Dodman from Reform UK, Paul Ashton from Abolish the Welsh Assembly and Becca Martin for Plaid Cymru.
Awaiting the arrival of Labour’s Andrew Ranger and Conservative Sarah Atherton.
We think the last box has now arrived – don’t forget to tune into our livestream to see what’s going on in the count.
With polls closed ago the ballot boxes are starting to turn up. Polling stations in town are quite close to where we are so it is a quick car trip to drop them off, others are several miles away.
The Returning Officer and staff will have a rough idea of when they are expecting boxes so any that are late can be chased up, and if there were queues (we have heard of none) or dodgy weather affecting the roads there could be delays (can confirm, no snow in Wrexham!).
There is an efficient well oiled system outside that you will see on the stream, with cars pulling up with the ballot boxes, dropping them, and then moving on.
Steady stream of ballot boxes arriving now – as shown on our live feed. Shout out to those who are running the boxes into the sports hall tonight!
10:09 and the first box is here!
With the Wrexham constituency being larger this election the last ballot box is expected at 10:45pm
And the exit polls are out! It’s suggesting a Labour majority with Keir Starmer set to be the new Prime Minister with a landslide victory.
It shows that Labour could end up with 410 seats, the Conservatives with 131, the Liberal Democrats with 61 seats, 13 for Reform UK and four for Plaid Cymru.
There are just a few minutes left until the polls close.
The returning officer has outlined the running order for the new few hours with vote verification taking place first.
Our live feed has the full speech outlining the details!
The first order of business will be some announcements around 9:45PM from the Acting Returning Officer Ian Bancroft (also the council’s Chief Exec).
….and we are LIVE, hopefully! For those not seeing the Youtube embed above, hit refresh and then sit back and enjoy the night – and morning.
Room filling up with count staff and members of some political parties who will observe
It’s just gone 9pm and there is now less than an hour to get out to the polling stations and cast your vote!
Welcome to where the count will take place, last minute setup still taking place with various electoral paraphernalia being placed on tables. Polling stations still open until 10PM so make sure you have your say on what happens here in the coming hours!
Welcome to our coverage of the Wrexham constituency General Election result live from the count in Wrexham. The new Montgomeryshire & Glyndwr constituency is being counted elsewhere, but we will bring you the result as soon as possible via MyWelshpool.
