General election 2024: What time will the Somerset results come in?

Somerset residents will have to stay up until the early morning of July 5 to find out who their MPs will be for the next five years. The UK will go to the polls in a general election on July 4, with polling stations being open between 7am and 10pm across the country (though many have already voted using postal voting).

Once the polls close at 10pm, volunteers will transport the ballot boxes to the counting venues, where the ballots will be verified and then counted before the result is announced. According to the Press Association, Blyth and Ashington is expected to be the first seat to declare at around 11:30am, beating out the good people of Sunderland this time around.

The Blyth area offered the first big surprise on election night in 2019, with the Conservatives winning the traditional Labour seat - and the new constituency could be a similar bellwether this time around. But the majority of seats in the West Country will not declare their results until much latter in the night - with some not predicting to announce the winner until 5am.

READ MORE: General election 2024: Seven things we learned from the Yeovil hustings

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There are 11 constituencies within Somerset this time around - four within the Bath and North East Somerset Council area, two within the North Somerset Council areas, and seven within the Somerset Council area (one of which, Tiverton and Minehead, straddles the Devon border). Due to the rural nature of much of Somerset, two or more constituencies may be counted at the same venue simultaneously.

The first Somerset seats which are expected to declare are Frome & East Somerset and Wells & Mendip Hills, both of which are predicted to announce their results at 3:30am. Both counts will be held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Evercreech, near Shepton Mallet - the scene where the Liberal Democrats won the Somerton and Frome by-election which was held less than a year ago.

At 4am, we can expect the results from the Bath constituency, with the count being held at the Team Bath sports complex within the University of Bath campus. At this time, we can also expect the results from Glastonbury & Somerton and Yeovil - with both of these results coming from the Westlands Entertainment Venue in Yeovil.

Back in 2015, this venue saw the Lib Dems lose heavily to the Conservatives in both Yeovil and Somerton and Frome - though a different result may be expected this time around. The new Bridgwater constituency will declare its results around 4.30am, with the votes being counted at the Canalside conference venue in the town (where Somerset Council stages most of its full council meetings).

Two further results are expected in Somerset at 4:30am - North East Somerset & Hanham (which is also being counted at the Team Bath site) and Taunton & Wellington. The Taunton & Wellington ballots will be counted at the Wellsprings Leisure Centre in Taunton - the site where the Lib Dems won control of the new Somerset Council in the local elections held in May 2022.

The other seat being counted at this venue, Tiverton & Minehead, is expected to declare at 4:45am. The final Somerset seats to declare, at around 5am, will be North Somerset and Weston-super-Mare, with both counts being undertaken at the Hutton Moor Leisure Centre in Weston-super-Mare.

It should be noted that all of these timings are approximate and can be affected by issues such as delays in verifying and counting ballots, or by recounts (which can be requested by the candidates). There have been substantial boundary changes at this election and this means there is considerable uncertainty around some of these timings.