Inside the Birmingham general election count as Conservatives say 'huge job' ahead

It was the moment political candidates across the country had been nervously awaiting after weeks of campaigning. The clock had just hit 10pm and a TV screen at the general election count at the ICC in Birmingham was tuned into the exit poll, which ended up forecasting a huge Labour landslide.

Voters spent Thursday, July 4, having their say on the country's next direction - and it appeared to be bleak news for the Conservatives. Results for hundreds of constituencies across the country were due to flood in throughout the early hours of Friday - including nine Birmingham seats at the ICC.

It remained to be seen exactly how accurate the exit poll was but members of Labour, and other parties such as Liberal Democrats and Reform, were unsurprisingly feeling optimistic as counting got under way. John Cotton, leader of Labour-run Birmingham City Council, described the exit poll as "really encouraging".

READ MORE: General election 2024 results live as exit polls show Labour landslide

He said growing the economy across the city and the country, as well as focusing on public services, should be a "top priority" for a Labour government. Sharon Thompson, deputy leader at the council, was feeling positive following the exit poll, saying there had been "14 years of chaos" under the Tories and she wanted to see the "city's engine back running".

A resigned Simon Phipps, Tory candidate for Selly Oak, said it did not come as a surprise to people in the Conservative camp. He said his party now had a "huge job trying to put itself back together and win people's trust".

Offering an explanation as to why the Conservatives were forecast to have a dismal election, he said there had been a "push towards change across Europe". "Britain is not immune to that," he said.

Roger Harmer, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Yardley, said he would be "delighted" if his party gets around 60 seats nationally, as the exit poll initially forecast. "I think our policies on social care and health have resonated with people," he said.

"People want to get rid of the Conservatives and they appear exactly to have done that," he added. Another buoyant figure at the election count was 21-year-old Erin Crawford, the Reform candidate for Selly Oak.

According to the exit poll, her party was on track to win 13 seats across the country. "Reform is a straight-talking party," she said. "They know the issues that matter.

"It’s one that relates to the working class.” "I want change and I want better for people," she added.

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