James Pearson
Political reporter, Hereford & Worcester

Marc Bayliss, the Conservative candidate for Worcester says he's "not glum" despite the exit poll which predicts a landslide Labour win.

“Hopefully we will have a strong opposition," he said.

And he added: "As we saw four years ago things turn around quickly in politics.”

But he also said it was "a disappointment to me obviously lots of Conservatives will not be returned".

Alistair Binney
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

Natalie McVey, the Green candidate in West Worcestershire, tells me they’re on for their “best ever” result here.

They don’t expect to win the seat here but are happy with the campaign.

She says she’s disappointed with the exit poll showing them only winning two seats, however.

We've had more turnout figures and the trend is pretty clear - they're all down on 2019.

In Droitwich and Evesham it stands at 65% this year, compared with 72% at the last election.

In Worcester its down from 69.5% to 62% this time.

The turnout for Bromsgrove in this year’s election is 66.1%, falling from 72.6% in 2019.

And in West Worcestershire they had a turnout of 69%, which is down from 75%.

Felicity Kvesic
Journalist, BBC Hereford and Worcester

Bill Hopkins, the Reform candidate in the Wyre Forest is hopeful of finishing second in the constituency.

And he added: "The exit polls suggest Mark Garnier won't retain his seat, but I just don't know."

Alistair Binney
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

West Worcestershire's Labour candidate Kash Haroon hasn’t arrived yet, but his supporters tell me “it’s too early to tell” but they think they’ve reduced the Conservative majority here.

They got a really good reaction in the towns in the constituency, less so in rural areas.

They’ve also seen “a lot” of reform crosses… but reckon they’re not taking votes off Labour here.

Tom Edwards
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

I've spoken to Redditch’s Green candidate David Thain, who has described the exit poll as “astonishing". He thinks Labour are on course to take Redditch - in fact he’s more confident than some Labour activists.

We've been told the turnout in Redditch is 59%, which is down on 2019, when it was 67%.

Counting in Redditch is about to start now….

And the turnout in the Wyre Forest is 58%.

Charlotte A Broadbent
BBC Hereford and Worcester

Conservative candidate Nigel Huddleston has arrived at Pershore Leisure Centre for the Droitwich and Evesham count.

He’s held this seat, formerly mid-Worcestershire, since 2015.

This is the first year the constituency will be contested as Droitwich and Evesham following some minor boundary changes.

Worcester Green candidate Tor Pingree, 24, tells me she expects the seat to go to Labour.

She’s currently stood over the trestle tables trying to do a rough tally of votes as the ballots are verified.

She says there’s a “big movement” for the Greens in Worcester, due to recent success in the local elections but feels it may be a general election too early for the party to take the constituency.

“People need to see the Greens are winning to vote for them… how long this will take I’m not sure but I’m hopeful it will happen next election, but I’m ready now!”

Alistair Binney
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

Counting is under way at the West Worcestershire constituency.

I’ve heard Labour members from here were asked to travel to Redditch earlier to help “get people out to vote, as it’s very close there”.

The University of Worcester Arena is the venue for the count and the people going through the ballot boxes have just been treated to a rendition of Auld Lang Syne from the balcony above.

Not quite sure why, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Tom Edwards
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

The atmosphere is cranking up at The Abbey Stadium in Redditch, where that exit poll has spooked the Conservatives and delighted Labour councillors.

“It’s too close to call,” one Labour activist just told me, with a rather sweaty brow.

This seat has been Conservative since 2010, it’s a proper bellwether constituency.

North Herefordshire got a visit from the Green Party's co-leader Carla Denyer last month and the party has said it's been a "straight fight" between it and the Conservatives there.

At the last election their candidate Ellie Chowns received fewer than 5,000 votes, but Ms Denyer said: "So much has changed since 2019, including the level of campaigning we're doing in this constituency."

Ms Denyer, who is hoping to be elected in the Bristol Central seat, also said she'd been encouraged by what she heard on her visit and added: "What we're hearing on the doorsteps is that many of them want change."

"They're obviously not going to get that from the Conservatives."

Not all the winning candidates from 2019 are back to defend their seats.

Sajid Javid announced in December 2022 that he would not be returning to fight for the Bromsgrove seat.

Robin Walker made his decision not to stand again for the Worcester seat in March 2023.

But Bill Wiggin (North Herefordshire), Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire), Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire), Rachel Maclean (Redditch), Nigel Huddleston (Droitwich and Evesham) and Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) will all return, hoping to hold on to their seats for the Conservatives.

For the first time in 14 years we could be seeing some change in Herefordshire and Worcestershire tonight.

The eight seats in the two counties have been held by the Conservatives since David Cameron's coalition came to power in 2010.

But the polls and recent council election results suggest that's not going to remain the case.

Worcester, North Herefordshire and Redditch are all ones to watch and the polls have put Labour close to the Conservatives in Wyre Forest too.

It would be a big surprise if the Conservatives lost the lot though - even the landslide Labour win in 1997 failed to clear all blue from the map.

Rob Mayor
Political editor, West Midlands

At events with an invited audience, you can probably learn more about how things are going from the activists. Those wearing red are nervous, but smiling and cautiously optimistic. They think they are on the cusp of something big.

Those in blue are a lot more gloomy, with some gallows humour at play. "He's told us all to go and find new jobs," one Tory MP's staffer told me this week with a laugh.

Meanwhile, thousands of buoyant Reform UK supporters turned up to a rally at the NEC last weekend, having paid £5 each for the privilege. Will they consider it money well spent by Friday morning? We'll know in a couple of hours' time.

Everyone is a bit weary by this point, especially the activists who've literally walked hundreds of miles, knocking doors, delivering leaflets and having sometimes quite difficult conversations with voters.

Labour gatherings in the last few days have been full of smiles, but nerves as well.

A few moments of silence were held at Wyre Forest Leisure Centre for former MP Dr Richard Taylor who died last week.

He was independent MP for the Wyre Forest between 2001 and 2010.

Rob Mayor
Political editor, West Midlands

The timing of this election caught everyone off guard, including MPs, party activists and of course, the journalists as well.

One of my colleagues was on a plane this afternoon, flying home early from a long-planned holiday so they can be in place at a count this evening.

It's probably been the most stage-managed campaign of all time with very few interactions between the party leaders and general public.

I interviewed the prime minister in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday and even if I had asked him how the England team will line up on Saturday I suspect I would still have got an answer warning about the danger of a Labour "supermajority".

The following day Sir Keir Starmer was in Cannock and didn't offer much away from his message that "if you want change you have to vote for it".

Nicola Goodwin

Herefordshire has never elected a Labour MP.

Since politicians have represented parties, the county has chosen blue or yellow; Conservative, Unionist, Whig or Liberal.

The only time that Herefordshire has been represented by somebody on the other side of the Commons was in 1997 when the former Conservative MP for Leominster, Peter Temple-Morris, crossed the floor to Labour.

He didn’t take the whip until he joined the Labour Party in 1998, instead the former minister sat firstly as the sole member of the ‘Independent One-Nation Conservative’ group.

He didn’t stand for election in 2001.

Rob Mayor
Political editor, West Midlands

The votes are finally in and whatever the results, we're in for a historic night.

If the polling is right, we could see wholesale change across the West Midlands, with the red wall which crumbled in Staffordshire and the Black Country in 2019 being rebuilt.

We'll be carefully watching the progress of Reform UK, who would be delighted to pick up seats like Cannock or Dudley, but even in defeat could have a huge impact on the result.

As for the others, we'll have to see if the Greens can finally realise their dream of an MP in the Midlands. Their hopes are high in North Herefordshire.

And have the stunts of of Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey convinced voters in Stratford-on-Avon, Cheltenham and Shropshire to give them a try?

All will become clear in the next few hours.

I hope you've got some strong coffee, because it could be a while before we see the first results for the Herefordshire and Worcestershire seats.

Droitwich and Evesham is expected to be the first to declare, along with Worcester and that could come some time around 02:45.

Image source, Getty Images

Then, some time around 03:30 we could be seeing results from Wyre Forest and West Worcestershire.

Redditch and Bromsgrove are both expected before 04:00

The two Herefordshire results are expected closer to 05:00.

But bear in mind we've had boundary changes since the last election and these are just estimates at this stage.