General Election 2024: What does the exit poll mean for the East of England?

Credit: ITV Anglia Imperial War Museum Duxford. count
Counting is under way across the East - including at this dramatic setting at Duxford Imperial War Museum. Credit: ITV News Anglia

This exit poll suggests that over the next few hours as results start to come in we can expect the East of England - a region that has been true blue - to change its political colours significantly.

It looks like a red wave could see seats that have been Conservative, for years, decades and in some cases forever, turn Labour.

Labour could win nearly every seat in Norfolk. Keep an eye on South West Norfolk where former PM Liz Truss should just about hold on, but could be close.

Previously safe Suffolk seats like Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk Coastal could also turn red.

In Essex, look out for Labour taking Harlow, Colchester, Southend seats, Basildon and Billericay where Tory Party Chair Richard Holden is the Conservative candidate.

In Cambridgeshire, the Lib Dems are on course to win in Ely and East Cambs, St Neots and South Cambridgeshire their top target in our region.

In Hertfordshire, Labour are on course to win in Hitchin, and Welywn Hatfield, where Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will be out of a job.

In Northamptonshire, expect to see seats like Northampton North and South, Corby and East Northamptonshire turn red.

The same applies for the three new Milton Keynes seats including Buckingham and Bletchley, where Sir Keir Starmer visited at start of this week - a constituency on the cusp of the 12.7% swing Labour needed to win power.

For Reform UK - if they do get 13 seats as the exit poll suggests - then we might expect Clacton, Great Yarmouth, North West Norfolk, maybe even Wellingborough to turn turquoise.

For Nigel Farage, as it looks to be 8th time lucky in winning a Westminster seat, this is a huge success.

The exit poll suggests Green are on course for just two seats, which may mean party co-leader Adrian Ramsey has just missed out in Waveney Valley.

This exit poll reflects how this campaign has played out in our region. The PM has made campaign visits to seats which would have looked safely Tory, visiting Sizewell in Suffolk and launching the manifesto at Silverstone in the South Northamptonshire constituency.

Tory candidates who had been forecasting defeat for a while will be disappointed the campaign didn't manage to narrow the gap, but have been for a while resigned to what one former Norfolk MP describes as total wipeout. They feel a Reform surge and a general feeling of voters wanting a change meant they were always trying to stem the losses and there will be many who had feared this might have been a worse defeat.

And Labour of course will be thrilled. They have run a cautious campaign, where they didn't want to put a foot wrong, but certainly by last week a relaxed, confident Starmer would have known Labour were heading for a significant victory - he will have seen that exit poll and be relieved and jubilant.

For live updates on results for the East of England, click here.

You can also follow live coverage led by Tom Bradby through the night on ITV1 or stream it on ITVX.

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