Welcome to The Greenwich Wire‘s live coverage from the count for the three Greenwich seats – Greenwich & Woolwich, Erith & Thamesmead and Eltham & Chislehurst.
We covered the build-up to the results in Lewisham (Lewisham North, Lewisham East, Lewisham West & East Dulwich) and Bexley (Bexleyheath & Crayford, Old Bexley & SIdcup) and trying to give you a flavour of what’s happening across our part of the world.
Here’s what happened:
Greenwich: Labour wins across borough as Efford says party must ‘restore faith in politics’
Bexley: Tories despondent as Labour sweep to victory in Bexleyheath & Crayford
Lewisham: Labour wins Lewisham seats easily but Green vote surges
4.45am. Greenwich’s results came in a flurry – Labour wins in all three seats, Erith & Thamesmead, Greenwich & Woolwich and Eltham & Chislehurst. In Bexley, Labour’s Daniel Francis has taken Bexleyheath and Crayford, but the party failed to take Old Bexley & Sidcup – that remains a Tory seat for Louie French.
In Lewisham, Labour also won the Blackheath by-election for Lewisham Council.
We now need to head out of the Waterfront – we’ll have full stories about what’s happened tonight up by breakfast time. Thanks for reading.
4.00am. We have turnouts for all three Greenwich seats: 51.48 per cent in Erith & Thamesmead, 58.76 per cent in Greenwich & Woolwich and 61.85 per cent in Eltham & Chislehurst.
3.50am. Vicky Foxcroft is back as Labour MP for Lewisham North – a new constituency based around Deptford, Lewisham and Blackheath Village. She got 25,467 votes, with the Greens’ Adam Pugh second on 9,685. Jean Branch was third for the Lib Dems on 3,284 and Conservative candidate Nupur Majumdar was fourth with 2,701. Reform UK’s Edward Powell had 2,000 votes.
3.20am. Here’s some video of the announcement in Lewisham East – please enjoy the fancy outfit worn by the speaker of Lewisham Council, Jacq Paschoud.
3.15am. The final postal votes are in for the three Greenwich seats – so this means things should start to move a little more quickly now.
2.56am. Labour’s Janet Daby has held Lewisham East. She got 23,646 votes, with the Greens’ Michael Herron second on 5,573 and Conservative Louise Brice on 4,401. Reform UK’s Ruth Handyside was fourth with 3,469, and Lib Dem Callum Littlemore was fifth with 2,471 votes.
2.55am. Another former SE London politician makes good elsewhere – Kevin Bonavia, who represented Blackheath on Lewisham Council until 2022, is the new Labour MP for Stevenage.
2.45am. Greenwich’s count is progressing slower than expected – apparently down to people deciding to take postal ballots down to polling stations rather than risk them in the Royal Mail. Can you blame them? Things moving more quickly in Lewisham, we understand.
2.10am. A “what might have been” moment in Swindon North as Will Stone wins it for Labour? What’s the link with Greenwich? West Thamesmead councillor Chris Lloyd was the original candidate there, but ended up quitting the race. He later quit the Labour Party and now sits as a Liberal Democrat councillor.
2.05am. We have updated turnouts in Bexley and they are down on the last election. Bexleyheath & Crayford is 61.99 per cent (was 66.1 per cent in 2019), Old Bexley & Sidcup is 65.25 per cent (was 69.8 per cent in 2019).
1.45am. Labour may be near-certain to win the three Lewisham seats, but the borough’s elected mayor Brenda Dacres said that any win nationally would “be hard fought and hard won”. She has been campaigning with other Labour council leaders, including Greenwich’s Anthony Okereke, in Rochester & Stroud in Kent. “Nothing has been taken for granted,” she told our reporter Helena Russell.
1.35am. Our Bexley reporter Tahira Yaqoob has caught up with the Reform UK candidate Tom Bright, who is standing in Bexleyheath & Crayford. He is thrilled with the party’s performance with the exit poll showing them picking up 13 seats.
He said: “It’s looking good. Looking at the numbers we are seeing and the queues at polling stations, people are fed up. They are looking for an alternative. The two-party system is broken.”
A cheer has just broken out at Crook Log… but that’s because the last ballot box has arrived.
1.25am. Greenwich Council leader Anthony Okereke clocked up 31,000 steps out campaigning today. He told The Greenwich Wire that Labour needed to deliver on its commitment to sort out local government finance – and be ambitious in government.
“Obviously, Labour’s going to have their key priorities – one of the things in there is making sure we have a longer-term funding plan – a three-year settlement or two-year settlement,” he said. “What we have right now is a one-year settlement every year, which makes it really difficult to do financial planning for the council.”
“I think Labour’s committed to change. We can’t afford to be slow in our tracks. We should should go out there and be ambitious, and set out a position on about changing the country. Let’s run at it.”
1.15am. A worrying sign in the women’s toilets at the Lewisham count… if anyone has any Andrex, send it to Knights Academy in Downham.
1.05am. We had some turnout figures for Bexley but we’ve had an update so we’re holding off on that for now…
12.35am. Counting is well under way at the Crook Log Leisure Centre in Bexleyheath (above), reports Tahira Yaqoob, our Bexley reporter. Still running a little late at the Waterfront.
12.20am. Former Lewisham East MP Heidi Alexander has returned to Parliament after winning in Swindon South. “It’s the honour of my life,” she said after winning in her home town.
11.40pm: We’ve been warned that not all the boxes have arrived at the Waterfront, so we’re strapped in for a long ride….
A nifty innovation from the BBC this year is live streams from every count – so here’s a stream of all the south London counts.
We’ve been warned to watch what we say near the camera as it’s picking up audio too…
11.15pm: While the first result rolls in up in Sunderland, there isn’t a great deal to report here so far. Helena Russell, our reporter at the Lewisham count, reports: “Lewisham’s director of comms has broken out the Fox’s chocolate biscuits for the press.”
11.00pm: It’s grim news for SE London’s Tories in the broadcasters’ exit poll with all our seats turning red, according to their predictions. That includes Old Bexley & Sidcup, a Tory stronghold since 1950 and Bexleyheath & Crayford. Eltham & Chislehurst also counts as a Labour gain, as pollsters think this would have been won by the Tories in 2019. Further afield, Bromley & Biggin Hill is also predicted to fall to Labour and Orpington too close to call, according to the underlying data, although the BBC has suggested it will go to Labour – unthinkable results just a few years ago.
Across into Kent, Dartford – a bellwether seat – is also poised to be won by Labour. There are also eyes on Sevenoaks here at the Waterfront, where Greenwich cabinet member Denise Scott-McDonald is standing for Labour. However, that is due to stay Tory, according to the exit poll. (updated at 11.53pm)
10.55pm: I’m safely enconsed in the media room at the Waterfront Leisure Centre, where ballot papers are arriving. Some are coming a long way – the Eltham & Chislehurst seat stretches almost down to St Mary Cray – so it’ll be while before they all arrive here.
Ballot papers are also arriving at the Lewisham count in Downham (below).
10.05pm: Labour are set to win 410 seats, according to the broadcasters’ exit poll, with the Conservatives on 131, Liberal Democrats on 61.
Good evening and welcome to The Greenwich Wire’s election coverage. Shortly, I’ll be live at the Waterfront Leisure Centre in Woolwich with what happens at three Greenwich counts – Greenwich & Woolwich, Erith & Thamesmead and Eltham & Chislehurst.
Of the three, Eltham & Chislehurst will be most interesting. The constituency boundaries have been redrawn to take in Chislehurst and all of Mottingham – a big chunk of Tory-leaning Bromley borough. By 2019 standards, this would be a Tory seat now.
But Labour’s Clive Efford has been a popular MP, and the Tories have had their own problems in Chislehurst – voters picked an independent local party in the 2022 council elections.
But back on the Greenwich side of the border, the Tories won a council by-election just a few weeks ago, and they will be throwing not just the kitchen sink, but the toaster, the kettle, the bread bin – you name it, they’ll be lobbing it – at winning this for Charlie Davis.
I’m delighted to say we have reporters in Lewisham and Bexley for the first time. Helena Russell is at Knights Academy in Downham for the Lewisham North, Lewisham East and Lewisham West & East Dulwich counts. Lewisham North covers Deptford, Lewisham itself and Blackheath Village, where there is also a council by-election. All are likely to be Labour wins – but by how much, and what happens next?
And Tahira Yaqoob is at the Crook Log Leisure Centre for what is likely to be a fascinating night in Bexleyheath & Crayford and Old Bexley & Sidcup. Bexleyheath & Labour could swing Labour’s way for the first time since 2005. Daniel Francis – the council’s opposition leader – is challenging the Conservative candidate Mark Brooks, who will hope to replace Sir David Evenett, who has stood down.
More intriguingly, Old Bexley & Sidcup – a Conservative stronghold since 1950, when a young Edward Heath was first elected – has been too close to call in many of the polls conducted during the campaign. Louie French, the Tory MP, will be hoping to fend off Labour’s Edward Jones and Reform’s Maxine Fothergill – herself a former Bexley Tory councillor.
We’ve also teamed up with Inside Croydon to share details from across south London.
And with that, let’s head to the count…
9.40pm: Welcome to our live coverage of the count! We’ll hopefully be here all night with what’s happening at the Waterfront Leisure Centre. Polling stations are still open, but we’ll be back after 10pm with the exit poll and details of what we’ll be up to.
We’re already in Woolwich, where the cones are out in Market Street waiting for the arrival of the cars bringing in ballots from across the borough and, for the first time, beyond – as far as Erith and Chislehurst. The count itself won’t be here – it’ll be over the other side of the town centre at the Waterfront Leisure Centre.
7am: If you’ve lost your polling card and don’t know where your polling station is, or want to find out more about your candidates before you venture out, then the volunteers at Democracy Club have it all in one place for you – just enter your postcode below.
Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm, when the results of the broadcasters’ exit poll will be released by the BBC, ITV and Sky News.
Results from the three Greenwich seats are expected between 3am and 5am on Friday.
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