General Election 2024: Gosport a hive of activity ahead of result declaration

Shortly after 10pm, the first ballot boxes started trickling in from polling stations and Labour and Reform candidates, along with Conservative county councillors, have been surrounding tables to watch the votes being counted. The atmosphere is relaxed, and not much change is expected in Gosport since Conservative candidate Caroline Dinenage, who is defending her seat, is predicted an easy win with Labour candidate Edward Batterbury coming second.

After verification, counting started at around 12.50am, with the returning officer announcing the turnout for postal votes in Gosport was 80 per cent and that the national problem with postal votes was not an issue in the constituency. In the last election in 2019, Ms Dinenage won with 66.5 per cent of the votes, a total of 32,226.

The Labour Party candidate achieved 18.5 per cent with 8,948 votes, followed by the Liberal Democrats’ candidate with 11.3 per cent (5,473 votes). This year, predictions suggest that Reform UK, fronted in Gosport by Matthew Mulliss, a marine engineer in the Solent area, will come third.

Exit polls revealed that Reform UK could win 13 seats nationally. The next Gosport MP will represent 14 wards where there are 73,261 voters. The council received 391 proxy votes, and 14,616 postal ballots. The turnout was 60.62 per cent, and 44,411 votes were cast. The result is expected around 3am, although it can be sooner or later.