Macclesfield turns to Labour for the first time, with the party also taking Congleton.

Bill Rice
BBC Radio Manchester

Labour has taken Warrington South from the Conservatives - a seat that once again has proved something of a bellwether seat, mirroring the wider national picture.

Sarah Hall beat Conservative incumbent Andy Carter, over-turning his 2019 majority of 2,000.

This time around Ms Hall took 23,201 votes to Mr Carter’s 11,861. Janet Balfe of Reform came in third with 7,913.

Warrington North was held by Charlotte Nichols with a slightly increased vote share and 18,730 votes.

That was despite a strong showing from Trevor Nicholls of Reform, who took 9,540 votes, beating the Conservative candidate Yasmin Al-Atroshi into second place.

Claire Hamilton
Reporter, BBC Radio Mersesyide

Knowsley’s new Labour MP Annaliese Midgely has been speaking about her election.

“What tonight is showing is that Britain is ready for a change,” the former policy boss of the Unite union said.

“There’s a long way to go. We have got huge challenges in Knowsley with budget cuts to public services.

“I want to ensure good jobs for people in the community I come from. I want to go out there and listen to the people of Knowsley.

"Listening to them is going to ensure I do a good job”.

Knowsley has traditionally been one of Labour’s biggest majorities and safest seats. But the party has lost votes in Knowsley to Reform who came second.

In 2019 the former Labour MP George Howarth won 80% of the vote. This time the party got 67% of the vote share.

Ms Midgely, of Stockbridge Village, added: “We have to listen to people’s concerns and get to the bottom of what they are worried about."

Turn out dropped from 65% in 2019 to 50%.

Dame Angela Eagle has been re-elected in the Wirral constituency of Wallasey, with a slightly reduced majority.

The veteran Labour politician picked up 24,674 votes, counting for 57.7% of the overall ballots cast, down from 63.7% in 2019.

Reform candidate David Burgess-Joyce came a distant second with 6,678 votes, with Conservative Robbie Lammas in third with 4,987.

Elsewhere in Wirral, Labour's new Birkenhead MP Alison McGovern told the BBC’s Phil Munns: “I know what a difficult 14 years this has been for people on the Wirral.

“People who work hard shouldn’t have to struggle and they should be able to enjoy themselves a bit at the weekend too, that’s not a pipe dream.

"That’s what ordinary working people deserve in this country. We need make sure that people can afford the necessities of life, and maybe even a holiday."

Labour's Mike Amesbury, the former shadow minister for building safety and homelessness, has taken the newly-drawn constituency of Runcorn and Helsby with 22,358 votes.

Conservative Jade Marsden was narrowly beaten into second place by Reform's Jason Moorcroft, who took 7,662 votes to Ms Marsden’s 6,756.

The seat was formerly known as Weaver Vale, also represented by Mr Amesbury.

Southport’s new MP says it is a historic moment as he becomes the seaside town’s first ever Labour representative in the House of Commons.

It was the only Merseyside seat not represented by Labour - now, every seat in the Liverpool City Region is red.

Patrick Hurley – who was previously a councillor in Liverpool – said: “I feel relieved the campaign is over. I am eager to get working.

"The town has seen better days; if you walk down Lord Street it looks tired.

"People have been mentioning the Pier being closed to me on the doorstep and everywhere looks like it’s seen better days and needs investment.

“Southport’s always had pockets of deprivation, but under the Tory government those pockets have expanded."

Labour looks like it has achieved a clean sweep on Merseyside.

They won Southport from the Tories.

Kim Johnson has been re-elected in Liverpool Riverside while Bill Esterson keeps his seat in Sefton Central.

Both St Helens seats are in, with David Baines taking St Helens North and Marie Rimmer being returned in St Helens South and Whiston.

Ian Byrne is re-elected in West Derby.

In all those seats, Reform UK candidates came second, apart from Liverpool Riverside which saw the Green Party candidate Chris Coughlan take 5,246 votes, and in Sefton Central, where Conservative Marcus Bleasdale came second with 8,490.

Over the water in Birkenhead, Alison McGovern is re-elected in the former constituency of the late Labour giant Frank Field, with 22,468 votes to the 8,670 won by second-placed Jo Bird of the Green Party.

Bill Rice
BBC Radio Manchester, reporting from Warrington

Warrington is likely to give us a good indication of how big the swing from Conservative to Labour will be in this election.

Warrington North is a safe seat, having been held by Labour since its inception in 1983, and so despite a much reduced majority in 2019, anything less than victory for Charlotte Nichols would be a huge surprise.

Warrington South, however, is considered a bellwether seat - whoever wins there usually wins the election overall, the only exceptions being in 1992 and 2017. Andy Carter won the seat for the Conservatives five years ago with a majority of just over 2,000, but thanks to the constituency changes, analysts say that under the current boundaries the seat would have gone to Labour last time with a winning margin of just 0.06% share of the vote.

Labour has taken Southport from the Tories, with Patrick Hurley unseating Damien Moore.

He secured a 13.2% swing and won by nearly 6,000 votes.

It likely means the Conservatives will no longer have any MPs on Merseyside.

Reform UK came third with 7,395.

The turnout was 61.2% - down 6% on 2019.

Labour's Derek Twigg has been comfortably re-elected as MP for Widnes and Halewood with a 61.6% share of the vote.

As has happened elsewhere in the North West, though, the Conservatives have haemorrhaged votes to Reform UK, whose candidate Jake Fraser secured 18.5% of the vote.

Tory Sean Houlston received 9.2% of the vote.

Labour have comfortably retained Knowsley, but the real story is the surge in support for Reform UK, which came second.

Labour's Anneliese Midgley won with 24,243 votes, although her vote share was down from 79.6% in 2019 to 67.3%.

Alexander Hitchmough of Reform racked up 5,924 votes, an 11.3% swing from Labour.

The Conservative candidate, Sherrie McDaid, was a distant third with 1,496 votes, a swing away from the Tories of just under 5%.

Claire Hamilton
Political Reporter, BBC Merseyside

The Conservative candidate in Southport says he expects to come a “respectable second” in the seat he has held since 2017.

Damien Moore, who was the only Conservative MP in Merseyside before the election was called, said “we fought a decent local campaign” but that his party has not been “robust” enough to offer voters reassurances on illegal migration or “do enough, quick enough”.

He said many of those who voted for him in the past said "liked me personally – but they think the real main plank was the lack of leadership on the issue of illegal immigration”.

He added that he had “won against the odds” twice before, being the only Conservative MP on Merseyside, but that tonight the “odds were not in his favour”.

Turnout will be a concern for the incoming government, and across Merseyside the number of eligible voters making the trip to their respective polling stations is significantly down compared to election day in 2019.

In St Helens South and Whiston turnout was 53.3%, down from 63.6% when Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn went head to head.

In Liverpool Riverside, predicted to be among the safest Labour seats in the country, turnout was 45.6%, down from 66% in 2019.

Liverpool Walton tells a similar story, with 53.4% down from 65.4%, while Liverpool Wavertree has seen turnout drop to 56.7% from 68.58% in 2019.

Across the water in Wirral, Birkenhead has seen turnout fall to 55.4% from 66% in 2019, with Wirral West at 68.3% compared to 77.3% last time around.

Claire Hamilton
Reporter, BBC Radio Merseyside

We’ve had the figure for the turnout in Southport - it’s 61.3%.

This is down on 2019 when turn out was 68%.

Phillip Munns
BBC Liverpool

Good evening here from Bidston Tennis Centre, where else to hold a General Election Count while Wimbledon is on?

It’s advantage Labour in the three constituencies being counted here tonight as they hold all three seats from 2019.

But never mind new balls please, it’ll be new MPs for two out of the three seats.

Margaret Greenwood is retiring, if you like, from her seat in Wirral West which she’s held since 2015.

And this was a Conservative seat before then so maybe this one deserves to be counted on centre court.

Due to boundary changes, the old Wirral South seat has now gone which means Alison McGovern had to challenge Mick Whitley to contest the Birkenhead seat for Labour.

He was the serving MP - but it's serve broken.

That leaves Wallasey as the only seat here that could have the same person in it at the end of the night, with Angela Eagle the reigning champ there.

What about wildcards?

The Greens did well in Birkenhead in the last local elections so are looking to move up the rankings.

And some predictions show that Reform UK could come second in Wallasey.

So now we know the top seeds and challengers, it's time to sit back and wait. Now, who’s got the strawberries and cream?

Claire Hamilton
Reporter, BBC Radio Mersesyide

There’s been a spectacular sunset over Southport tonight – and with polls predicting the sun setting on the Conservative government, the Labour candidate in this constituency might be feeling quietly confident.

If he does win, Patrick Hurley will be the first Labour MP to represent the resort in the House of Commons since the seat was created in the 1880s.

During that time it’s flip-flopped between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

Southport’s an anomaly in the Liverpool City Region – it’s the only seat not held by Labour.

Now, I’m getting flashbacks to school PE lessons because the counting tonight is taking place in a huge sports hall. It’s got basketball hoops high on the wall, it’s painted pale green.

We are Splashworld – Southport’s famous leisure centre. The smell of chlorine is in the air, and we are told to expect a result here between 02:30-03:30 BST.

Simon Moffatt
Reporter, BBC Radio Merseyside

It is all smiles for Labour supporters at the St Helens counts following the release of the exit poll that predicts a landslide victory for Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

Labour should hold St Helens South and Whiston and the St Helens North seats comfortably but will Reform UK grab second spot from the Conservatives in both?

Early indications are that turnout may be up on the 62% who voted at the last general election in 2019.

We think the results will be in at about 04:00 BST.

All across our region, teams of officials are transporting ballot boxes to an assortment of leisure centres, town halls and other counting venues.

The first boxes have arrived in Ellesmere Port.