Image source, Harry Hansen

As the sun comes up, we are bringing our live coverage of the General Election 2024 in Cumbria to a close.

Labour have scored a resounding success across Cumbria winning five seats and the Liberal Democrats retaining one.

You can find out who won in your area here.

And you can continue following the election story across the UK here.

Thank you for joining us.

'A night of Labour triumph and Conservative disaster'published at 08:04 5 July

08:04 5 July

Richard Moss
Political editor, North East & Cumbria

It was a night of Labour triumph and Conservative disaster in the North East and Cumbria.

In the end they just avoided a complete wipeout, but only just. Deputy party chairman Matt Vickers’ win in Stockton West avoided that ignominy.

It leaves the Tories with fewer MPs here than at any time in the party’s modern history.

And it was not just the gains from 2019 that slipped away. Hexham – Conservative for 100 years –was taken by Labour for the first time.

In North Northumberland, David Smith’s victory was perhaps even more remarkable. He was only selected a few days before Rishi Sunak called the election and yet overturned a majority of almost 18,000 and removed Conservative minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

Then there was Cumbria. The party went into the election having an effective majority in all the county’s five redrawn seats. They left it without a single MP there. Labour took five, Lib Dem Tim Farron the sixth, overcoming unfavourable boundary changes to win a 20,000-plus majority.

Conservatives had been hopeful that the Tees Valley area would be a happier hunting ground as candidates looked to tie themselves to Ben Houchen – the mayor who won across the area just two months ago.

And the party’s vote did hold up slightly better, but it didn’t prevent all but Stockton West slipping away. Scalps included former Cabinet member Simon Clarke, and current levelling up minister Jacob Young. The party’s two County Durham seats also went to Labour.

But the night was also notable for a surge in the Reform UK vote that put them in second place in a string of constituencies. Results they will look to build on in the next two sets of local elections, with the hope of pushing for wins whenever the seats are contested again.

This though was largely a mirror image of 2019. Then it was the Conservatives pushing into previously unconquered territory, this time Labour was making new ground.

But there is a warning there. Tory wins then were founded, at least in part, on promises to level up the region. Voters have clearly decided that wasn’t delivered.

Labour have promised change and hope. If they don’t deliver then the party cannot be sure the same fate may await, and Reform UK in particular could be waiting to capitalise.

If you're just logging in here is a recap of what happened overnight:

• The first Cumbria result was declared about 02:30 BST with Labour's Josh McAlister winning Whitehaven and Workington
• The second result of the night was Labour winning in Barrow and Furness
• Shortly afterwards Labour also gained Penrith and Solway
• At about 03:45 BST the news emerged that Carlisle had its first Labour MP in 14 years
• Shortly before 04:30 BST we had the only Cumbria non-Labour win of the night with the Liberal Democrat Tim Farron taking Westmorland and Lonsdale
• The final result affecting Cumbria was Labour gaining Morecambe and Lunesdale shortly after 05:00 BST

'Conservatives wiped off political map in Cumbria'published at 07:47 5 July

07:47 5 July

Bob Cooper
Political reporter, BBC Cumbria

Cumbria is a county where plenty of seats have changed hands in recent elections.

The story of previous years was one of Conservative gain at the expense of Labour. The Tories picked off all of the party’s Cumbrian constituencies between 2010 and 2019.

But last night saw all of that reversed.

First Labour strolled to a comprehensive win with more than half the votes in Whitehaven and Workington, a new seat that was notionally Conservative at the start of the night, based on 2019 results.

The Tories were pushed into third place there by Reform UK.

Labour went on to take three more seats in the county, as well as Morecambe and Lunesdale, which includes a small sliver of Cumbria.

Even the new seat of Penrith and Solway, in which the Conservatives had a notional majority of more than 13,000, wasn’t safe from the new party of government.

The constituency’s new MP Markus Campbell-Savours will follow his father Dale’s footsteps into Parliament. He used to represent Workington in the Commons before becoming a Labour peer.

It was a very good night for the Liberal Democrats in their top target seat in Cumbria.

Tim Farron had been the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale for nearly 20 years, but boundary changes favoured the Conservatives in a new constituency of the same name.

It did not stop Mr Farron sweeping to victory with a majority of more than 21,000.

It is a set of results that has wiped the Conservatives off the political map in this county and will leave them with a major rebuilding job to become a force here once more.

At Kendal Leisure Centre, in the heart of the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency, there were cheers and applause as Tim Farron won the geographically altered seat for the Lib Dems following boundary changes, with 31,061 votes.

Under the old boundaries he'd held on to his seat for the Liberal Democrats for nearly 20 years, and continues to do so under the newly drawn map, which now includes places like Pooley Bridge, which was a Conservative stronghold previously.

In fact Mr Farron no longer actually lives in his constituency, as his village of Milnthorpe isn’t in it anymore - it’s now in the Morecambe and Lunesdale seat.

Mr Farron said after giving his speech: "The Liberal Democrats have had fantastic results. The best for getting on for 20 years. Maybe even better than that... It might even be the best Liberal Democrat result since Lloyd George's Day, which is a century ago.”

For the Conservatives, Matty Jackman came second, with 9,589 votes, and the Reform party’s James Townley edged ahead of Labour with 4,842, while Pippa Smith, for Labour, received 2,306 votes.

Mr Townley said: "I’m pretty happy with my result. Reform really are the real Conservatives now. We’ve done really well. Next election I think we’re going to make some big noises."

Turnout was just under 69%, down by more than 10% on 2019's General Election.

Carlisle has a Labour MP for the first time in 14 years as the city followed the predicted trend shown across the country of a swing towards Keir Starmer’s party.

The result was announced by the returning officer, Chris Holmes DL who is the High Sherriff of Cumbria, at about 03:30 BST following the count at the city’s Civic Centre.

Julie Minns (Labour) received 18,129 votes, John Stevenson (Conservative) received 12,929, Stephen Ward (Reform UK) got 9295 votes, Brian Wernham (Lib Dems) got 2,982 votes, Gavin Hawkton (Green) got 1,922, Sean Reed (independent) received 303 votes.

Rachel Hayton (SDP) got 244 votes and Thomas Lynestrider ((Independent) got 175 votes.

Out of a total electorate of 77,863 there were 46,136 ballots verified which represented a turnout of 59.25%.

There were 152 spoiled ballot papers – of which 29 were voting for more than one candidate and 123 were unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty.

Mr Stevenson had previously held the seat since first being elected to the seat in 2010.

Liberal Democrat Tim Farron won in Westmorland and Lonsdale - the sole non-Labour winning candidate in Cumbria.

Taking to the stage after his victory was announced he said: "We need to tackle the lack of affordable housing, all the health-related issues we face locally, and the need to protect our environment, not least of course our waterways, our lakes and the plight that many of our farmers face.

"It’s a great challenge and I’m delighted to get on with doing it.”

Former Workington MP Mark Jenkinson blamed turmoil "driven a lot by internal party politics", as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine for the Conservatives' poor performance in the General Election.

Mr Jenkinson lost the Penrith and Solway seat to Labour's Markus Campbell-Savours.

He said: "Elections are a brutal game.

"I've lost more elections than I've won and tonight doesn't change that stat.

"I wish Markus all the very best of luck. My door is open to him to help him transition."

Mr Jenkinson added it was not the time "to point fingers".

"We've lost a lot of good colleagues, a lot of friends, a lot of fantastic Conservative candidates," he said.

"They're the ones that pay the price.

"But, like I said, elections are a brutal game, so we just take it on the chin and rise again."

Labour's Lizzi Collinge has won Morecambe and Lunesdale with 19,603 votes.

The seat includes a section of south Cumbria - the revised seat was expanded to include three South Lakeland wards which were previously within the neighbouring constituency of Westmorland & Lonsdale.

Conservative David Thomas Morris came second with 13,788 and Reforms Barry Michael Parsons was third with 7,810.

Liberal Democrat Peter Jackson was fourth with 4,769 and the Green party's Gina Dowding was fifth with 2,089.

Labour have gained Morecambe and Lunesdale from the Conservatives.

Labour has gained Barrow and Furness from the Conservatives.

The successful Labour candidate Michelle Scrogham said: "It's incredible, very humbling, and, just so much gratitude to the people of Barrow and Furness that have put their faith in me to be honest.”

Conservative Simon Fell, who won the seat at the last general election, said: "This has been a long, long campaign and a long, long day.

"I’ve walked 28k today delivering leaflets and knocking on doors, so I just want to go to bed frankly."

Liberal Democrat Tim Farron is re-elected in Westmorland and Lonsdale.

Labour's Markus Campbell-Savours secured 41% of the votes to wrestle Penrith and Solway from the Conservatives.

He won 19,986 votes, with Mark Jenkinson of the Conservatives finishing second with 14,729 or 30% of the votes.

Reform's Matthew Moody came third with 7,624 or 16%.

Labour's Julie Minns won 40% of the votes to take Carlisle.

She secured 18,129 votes, while the Conservative's John Stevenson, who had held the seat since 2010, got only 12,929 or 28%.

Reform's Stephen Ward got 9,295 or 20%.

The newly-formed seat of Whitehaven and Workington was won by Labour with a huge majority of 22,173.

Copeland's former Conservative MP Trudy Harrison had clinched the seat from the party in 2017, but overnight it turned red once more through Josh MacAlister.

Reform candidate David Surtees came second, with 8,887 votes, only just surpassing Conservative candidate Andrew Johnson.

The Green's Gill Perry received 1,207 votes, while 1,118 backed Chris Wills.

Mr MacAlister thanked his staff, supporters and volunteers, saying he owed them a "huge debt of gratitude" for their work over the campaign.

Among the priorities that resonated with the electorate, Mr MacAlister quoted reducing NHS waiting lists and protecting the nuclear industry.

Reform's Mr Surtees said he was "absolutely delighted with his result".

He added the success of Reform, though not victorious, was due to the major parties "ignoring the elephant in the room" of uncontrolled immigration.

The Tory candidate, Mr Johnson, said he was humbled many people had voted for him, but he said that after 14 years there was "appeal for change" from the electorate.

The atmosphere at the count for the newly-formed constituency of Whitehaven and Workington had been subdued but jovial, with candidates and party supporters chatting while the count was under way at Whitehaven Sports Centre.

Earlier in the night, David Surtees said he was feeling optimistic rather than confident. He said: "I think tonight's result will give a few people a shock. I think Reform will do quite well."

Tory Candidate Andrew Johnson said he was expecting the night to be a difficult one for the Tories.

Josh MacAlister remained tight-lipped with the Press until the results were declared.

Labour gains Penrith and Solway from the Conservatives.