Late last night and in the early hours of this morning, I attended the counting of the results for the election held nationally, yesterday, as pertaining to the Southend East and West constituencies.

While no result had yet been announced for anywhere in the UK before I left home just before midnight, the result according to the exit polls was going to be emphatic – it would be a massive Labour landslide victory with the question begged as to how the other parties would fare. The two Southend constituencies have been, for as long as I remember, relatively safe Conservative seats, but I sensed this time that an upset might be in the offing.

What I love about counts and why I attend them is I can meet old friends in a setting where those present could be counted on as being on their best behaviour, to such an extent that people would be nice to those from opposing parties, and where the atmosphere would be peaceful, although for those taking part and their entourage their anxiety would often be a foil to my own sense of resignation. For good reason, I often cite election day counts as being the best show in town. This would be the case this time.  

I did indeed get to meet all sorts of people, right across the political spectrum, along with police (one of which I had dealings with as a young lad in my church back in the day), party representatives and officers on duty for the count, and this included several friends, old and new, and having all sorts of discussions, often about subjects other than politics. One highlight was meeting some disaffected, local ex-Labourites. The one cloud was trying to be a peacemaker between two friends arguing whether Israel are causing genocide among the Palestinians living in Gaza – not doing so successfully. All during this time I could check out from the TV screen and my own mobile what was happening across the country result wise (which I will cover in my next blog). From what I could make out from the results being called, was that the exit polls were right.

Time seemed to pass quite quickly and approaching 4am the Southend results were announced. The change that at the start of the evening that seemed possible, even likely, happened. We can’t be sure but could wonder what if Reform hadn’t stood. The East and West Labour candidates beat their Conservative rivals and both gave good victory speeches. As for those not elected, the pattern seen in the results was not so dissimilar to that being seen in the rest of the country with Reform (especially), Green and LibDem doing well, but not well enough. I felt sorry most for the Confelicity and Heritage candidates because they deserved to do better.

All in all, just as in previous years, attending this count was a salutary, even enjoyable, experience – but when it comes to what to make of the results nationally and where we go next, you need to wait for my next blog when I will share my thoughts.