| 03.35am | Labour seat for Lewisham West & Penge makes it a Labour Lewisham once again
Labour’s Ellie Reeves has just won for Lewisham West & Penge, the last of the three seats in the borough to be announced. Reeves acquired 35,411 votes, with Shaun Bailey (Conservative) second with 12,249 votes.
|
| 03.27am | Labour’s Vicky Foxcroft retains Lewisham Deptford
The Labour Party have won with 42,461 votes a 77 percent majority. |
| 03.22am | Diane Abbott retains Hackney North & Stoke Newington seat
Diane Abbott has retained her Hackney North & Stoke Newington seat with 42,265 votes (75 percent)
. |
| 03.15am | Lewisham East stays Labour stronghold
Heidi Alexander retains her seat as Lewisham East MP.
|
| 03.08am | Hillier retains Hackney South & Shoreditch seat
Labour’s Meg Hillier has retained her Hackney South & Shoreditch seat. Hillier has won with 43,974 votes (79 percent) |
| 2.42am | Diane Abbott has just arrived at Hackney count
Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary has just arrived at the count for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.  Diane Abbott arrives at Hackney count. Pic: Alastair Norton |
| 2.37am | Croydon South turnout decrease
Croydon South voting turnout has been released as 68.4 percent down from 70.1 percent in 2015. |
| 02.36am | Amy Gray arrives at Hackney count “fist-pumping”
Amy Gray, the Conservative candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington has just arrived at the Hackney count, she has been seen fist-pumping as the Tories gained two seats in Scotland.
|
| 02.15am | Conservatives lose safe seats, could Croydon Central become Labour too?
With the likely loss of supposedly ‘safe’ Conservative seats such as Chester and Battersea, the night is looking increasingly disappointing for Theresa May, current PM. Channel 4 News report that May “did not even visit Chester” as she was so confident their seat was secure. Perhaps this has caused more damage than expected. Battersea has now been announced a Labour gain from the Conservatives – could the same happen in Croydon Central? |
| 01.59am | Hackney turnout figures increase
The turnout figure for Hackney North & Stoke Newington and Hackney South & Shoreditch have been released. Hackney North & Stoke Newington is 64.9 percent up from 56.6 percent in 2015. Hackney South & Shoreditch is 66.9 percent increased from 55.6 percent. |
| 01.38am | Update: Delays at Tower Hamlets
There has been a delay in processing the postal votes at Tower Hamlets, which were received at polling stations today. Until then, no turnout figure in the borough will be released.  Delays at Tower Hamlets. Pic: Oli Chapman |
| 01.25am | This year’s turnout at Lewisham, Croydon Central
Lewisham’s turnout at this general election has been, Croydon Central’s turnout has been 71.2 percent up from 67.2 percent in 2015 |
| 00.57am | Labour to win marginal Croydon Central seat?
We won’t know until around 4.00am, but if the polls are right, Labour could bag the marginal seat.
|
| 00.50am |
Labour takes a narrow lead The night is drawing on in Hackney, with the vote still going ahead of a declaration for Hackney North & Stoke Newington at around 3.30am. The mood is picking up, as more and more seats are called around the country, with Labour taking a narrow lead as it stands. Darlington being the most recent example of this.
|
| 00.46am |
Will Tower Hamlets retain Labour? It’s hard to see how they won’t keep these seats. Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) and Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) both have quite large majorities from the last general election and are well liked by the public. However, in 2005 George Galloway won the Bethnal Green and Bow seat for the Respect Party with a majority of 1.9 per cent, so never say never… |
| 00.30am |
It’s a waiting game… It’s still a waiting game for Tower Hamlets at the ExCel centre and will be for a few more hours, with results expected at 5.00am approximately. People from all parties are mingling together to talk and with each result that comes in, more people are beginning to crowd around the TV coverage. |
| 00.14am |
Are Lewisham set to stay Labour?
Yes it is the most likely outcome; the borough is a Labour stronghold as MP’s for Deptford, Vicky Foxcroft and Lewisham East, Heidi Alexander hope to retain their seats. Ellie Reeves is the Labour candidate for Lewisham West & Penge, replacing Jim Dowd who has been MP for 25 years. In a recent blogpost, Foxcroft said: “I will be re-standing to be the MP for Lewisham Deptford, in the hopes of continuing to represent my local community and voice the issues we face at a national level.” |
| 12.00am |
As the Hackney count continues, Diane Abbott and Meg Hillier look to retain their Labour stronghold in both constituencies.
 The Hackney count. Pic: Alastair Norton
|
| 11.54pm |
Croydon Central – which way will they swing?
In the 2015 general election in Croydon Central’s Gavin Barwell, just grabbed the seat for the Tories with 165 votes over Labour. Is the housing minister still clinging on? According to the exit polls, suggesting the likelihood of a hung parliament, his position may be compromised. The BBC have said there is a 90 percent chance that Labour will win the seat. They are forecasting that Labour’s Sarah Jones will have taken 52 percent of the vote, Barwell only securing 41 percent. Laura Kuenssberg political editor at the BBC said Labour are “quietly confident” and the result in Croydon Central “could tell us a lot about the general result”. So, how is Barwell holding up? He recently tweeted: “Thanks for bringing a smile to my face on what looks like being a bad night” in reply to a joke about him becoming the new [Crystal] Palace manager. Apparently not optimistic.
|
| 11.47pm |
|
| 11.32pm |
 The ExCel centre in Tower Hamlets. Pic: Oli Chapman. Despite both Tower Hamlets constituencies, Bethnal Green and Bow & Poplar and Limehouse, being Labour safe seats, the count at the ExCel has become a lot more interesting following the exit polls being reported. Labour are here in force and are starting to look optimistic. |
| 11.11pm | Approximate declaration time:
Lewisham (Deptford, East, West & Penge): 3.30 – 4.00am
|
| 10.57pm | Exit polls predict that Labour will take Croydon Central. The seat is one of the most marginal in the country with Conservatives taking the constituency by only 165 votes in 2015.
 Counting votes in Croydon. Pic: Imogen Lodewyke |
| 10.44pm | Tower Hamlets ballots are coming in,
|
| 10.33pm |
|
| 10.20pm |
 Counting in Lewisham, Cadet Training Centre is underway Pic: Alex Wilson |
| 10.00pm |
Exit Polls are released Expected seats at General Election 2017; Conservative: 314 (-17) |
11.00am |
|
10.00am |
Welcome to #ELLectionWelcome to our #ELLection 2017 live blog, join us as we bring you the general election across our boroughs in the earlier hours of the morning!
|
