Steve Hermon
Reporter, BBC Radio WM

I'm in Stourbridge, where the Lib Dem candidate for Halesowen, Ryan Priest jokes that he'll get the party's leader Ed Davey to come to Crystal Leisure Centre to go on the infamous yellow slide that goes out over the ring road, if he wins tonight.

He also says he speaks of his pride for the party's campaign.

"At the Lib Dems, we have got a lot to be happy about. We went into it, thinking we were going to be happy," he said.

"I've seen the exit poll and I'm a lot happier than I thought I was going to be and it has just been a fun campaign.

"Ed Davey has tried to put across that message that you can be a serious politician that talks about serious issues, but not take yourself too seriously. I'm really proud of my party and the way that we have gone about the election."

There's been quite a bit of change to the consituency boundaries since the last general election.

The West Midlands has lost two constituencies, taking it from 59 to 57 seats in the Houses of Parliament.

The four Black Country boroughs, together with Staffordshire, bore the loss because of the population spread.

One of the new seats is West Bromwich, which joins together parts of three constituencies: the old West Bromwich East, West Bromwich West, as well as parts of Halesowen and Rowley Regis.

Tipton and Wednesbury is a similar example - one new seat made up of bits of three old ones.

Wolverhampton retains three seats with just one name change - from Wolverhampton South West to Wolverhampton West.

You can read more about the changes here.

Eve Webster
BBC Radio WM

After a slow start things are picking up at Walsall Town Hall where the Aldridge-Brownhills and Walsall and Bloxwich counts are taking place.

Aldridge-Brownhills has been held by the Conservatives since 1979 meanwhile Walsall and Bloxwich is a brand new constituency formed of around half of the old Walsall North seat, which was held by the Conservatives and half of Walsall South, which was a Labour seat.

Wendy Morton, the Conservative candidate for Aldridge-Brownhills was Chief Whip during the Truss premiership.

Yasmin Rufo
Reporter

Former MP for Warley John Spellar is at the count tonight cheering on the new Labour candidate for the constituency, Gurinder Singh Josan.

After 27 years as MP he says he will miss his constituents and "cutting through all the bureaucracy for the benefit of the people".

Spellar is one of eight Labour figures to be awarded a peerage and he says he is "excited to be working on something new".

"I'll be focussing on improving economic efficiency and defence and security".

Here's a scene we weren't expecting to see tonight - two men in 1970s-style commentary get-up.

They're from Birmingham-based theatre company Stan's Cafe and are broadcasting, in character, from the count at the ICC.

Yasmin Rufo
Reporter

At Tipton Sports Academy ballot boxes are arriving by the dozen as three counts - Tipton & Wednesbury, West Bromwich and Smethwick - are under way.

Labour have been eyeing up two of the seats, West Bromwich and Tipton & Wednesbury, and are hoping to gain them back after losing them to the Tories in 2019.

It’s early days, but the exit poll suggests that Sutton Coldfield could be won by Labour for the first time ever, our political editor Rob Mayor says.

Most of the constituency has had a Conservative MP for the last 139 years and it is defended by Conservative Andrew Mitchell, who is effectively the deputy foreign secretary.

His majority in 2019 was 19272.

At these 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.

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".

While we wait for the results we can take a look back at what went on in the run-up to the election.

Candidates from across the Black Country came face-to-face in a debate hosted by BBC Radio WM presenter Kath Stanczyszyn.

Knife crime, energy bills and the cost of adult social care were on the agenda.

You can read more about what happened at the debate here.

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.

If you want to work out what time you might get to bed, or if you want to make sure you don't eat your snacks too quickly, here are some estimated declaration times.

We think it will be fairly early for those in Dudley and Halesown but you might need some stamina and staying power if you are staying up for Birmingham Yardley. (And let's not think about recounts).

02:45 BST:

• Dudley
• Halesowen
• Smethwick
• Solihull West & Shirley
• Stourbridge
• Tipton & Wednesbury
• West Bromwich

03:30 BST:

• Aldridge-Brownhills
• Birmingham Edgbaston
• Birmingham Erdington
• Sutton Coldfield
• Walsall & Bloxwich
• Wolverhampton North East
• Wolverhampton South East
• Wolverhampton West

03:45 BST:

• Birmingham Hall Green & Moseley
• Birmingham Hodge Hill & Solihull North

04:00 BST:

• Birmingham Ladywood
• Birmingham Northfield

04:15 BST:

• Birmingham Perry Barr
• Birmingham Selly Oak

04:30 BST:

• Birmingham Yardley

Good evening and welcome to our coverage of the general election results for Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Solihull and the Black Country.

The polls have just closed and we'll be bringing you the latest results and analysis from across the region throughout the night.

So, grab your snacks and beverages of choice and stay with us right through to the morning.

Voting has been taking place throughout the day across the UK in the 2024 General Election.

Join us after midnight for coverage of all the results and reaction across Birmingham and the Black Country.

BBC Birmingham and Black Country will have reporters at the counts and you can follow all the election developments as they happen here on the BBC News website and app.

You can find out more about how to follow the election on the BBC here.