Image source, PA Media

Esther McVey has been re-elected in the traditionally safe Conservative seat of Tatton in Cheshire... but had her majority slashed to little more than 1,000.

Labour achieved a 16.3% swing from the Tories, who were also harmed by a surge in support for Reform UK, whose candidate Oliver Speakman secured 5,948 votes.

The Labour Mayor of Salford, Paul Dennett, has spoken to BBC Radio Manchester about the prospect of a landslide Labour victory.

He said Salford - the 18th poorest authority in the UK - had suffered during 14 years of Conservative rule at Wesminster.

Mr Dennett claimed the Tories had “decimated local government in my city”.

When asked about what the first thing he’d like a Labour government to influence in Salford, he replied: “My priority continues to be what I’ve been campaign for since day one really, tackling the housing and homelessness crisis."

Cabinet minister Esther McVey has arrived for her count at Macclesfield Leisure Centre, where we are awaiting the results not only from her Tatton constituency but also Macclesfield.

They have traditionally been safe Tory seats, but Labour supporters are dreaming of success in both.

From the press gallery, our Cheshire political reporter Kaleigh Watterson says she has a good vantage point over the count, including the boxes where the counted votes are being placed

She says it is looking very close in Tatton, although in Macclesfield it looks like Labour have pulled ahead.

There are still plenty more votes left to count here, though.

Yasmin Qureshi has been re-elected for Labour, this time in the new constituency of Bolton South and Walkden.

Her share of the vote fell 15% from 2019 though as Reform UK's Julie Pattison secured a 16.5% swing from Labour.

Jack Khan of the Workers Party of Britain came third on a disastrous night for the Tories, whose candidate Mohammed Afzal was beaten into fourth place.

A 16.2% swing from the Conservatives sees Labour’s Phil Brickell take back Bolton West, a seat they lost to the Tories in 2015.

The former Manchester City Councillor won 17,363 votes, unseating Conservative Chris Green who got 12,418 votes, who lost more than 10,000 votes from his 28,197 total in 2019.

Reform finished in third with 8,517.

The Liberal Democrats have taken Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester following a collapse of the Tory vote.

Lisa Smart won with 17,328 votes, ahead of Claire Vibert for Labour on 10,828.

Conservative Paul Athans came third with 9,011 - for context, the Tories secured 22,994 votes at the last general election in 2019.

The swing from Conservative to Lib Dems was 13.2%, while it was 16.6% from the Tories to Labour.

Labour wins back Rochdale from Workers Party of Britain founder George Galloway.

Kaleigh Watterson
BBC Cheshire political reporter

The press balcony here at Macclesfield leisure centre - where we're gathered for the Macclesfield and Tatton counts - is pretty well populated, with plenty of national journalists and camera crews.

It's set to be a long night though - we results not expected until 04:00 BST.

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.

Workers Party for Britain leader George Galloway has lost to Labour in Rochdale, after winning the seat at a March by-election.

Former political journalist Paul Waugh wins for Labour.

Just a note - this result is still described as a Labour hold because it's compared to the result at the last election in 2019.