Last night David Wright, Labour, and Mark Pritchard, Conservative, won their seats as Members of Parliament.
As the polling stations closed across Telford, reporters Chrissy Symmons and Peter Finch made their way to Telford College of Art and Technology to watch the count for the borough’s MPs.
Politicians from across the borough arrived at the college, on Haybridge Road, to see who would be sent to the Houses of Parliament.
The air was buzzing with excitement as everyone spoke of how they thought the night would turn out.
The main candidates were present, as well as councillors from across the borough including Andrew Eade, Eric Carter, Vic Tonks, Helen Williams, Carol Williams, Adrian Williams, Sean Kelly, Mary Lewis and Stephen Bentley.
Victor Brownlees, returning officer for Telford, began the evening by speaking to those counting. He thanked Telford College of Arts for offering their facilities for the election count.
At 10pm ballot boxes with postal votes were opened and packs of postal votes were distributed to the counting tables for verification. The ballot boxes also arrived from polling stations.
Then the work begins - first with verification. This is checking that the tally of votes in each ballot box or each pack of postal votes is right by counting the papers in that box. There is no sorting of the votes at this time.
Only then are the votes sorted by candidates and counted.
The sound of people counting the ballot papers sounded like rain echoing across the sports hall. Excitement and anticipation hung in the air as prospective candidates milled around, watching the events.
The final stage of a count is consultation with the candidates and their election agents on a provisional result.
There were whispers echoing across the hall that there could be a call for a recount, as votes between the Labour and Conservative are thought to be incredibly close. The announcement for Telford was expected at 1pm but the results are not announced until 1.30pm.
All prospective candidates were called to the stage as the votes are read out.
Telford seat was won by Labour candidate David Wright and a cheer rang out across the hall.
Mr Wright gave thanks to everyone, saying Telford was his home town. He thanked his wife, the returning officer, Telford and Wrekin, and everybody who helped in the campaign.
“This has been a tremendous result for Telford Labour,” he said. “This has been a hard-fought campaign. This is a fantastic victory I would like to thank the people here.”
Next is the turn of the Wrekin, where Mark Pritchard took the seat with an increased majority and again a cheer rang out across the hall.
Mr Pritchard thanked TCAT and all who helped with the election, count and campaigns.
“I am greatly honoured to be elected Member of Parliament for a second time a conservative member,” he said.
And with that the decisions were made, results were tweeted, people were congratulated and the wait to discover the new Prime Minister began.
Telford:
David Wright - Labour – 15977
Tom Biggins - Conservative – 14966
Phil Bennion – Lib Dem – 6399
Denis Allan - UKIP – 2428
Phil Spencer - BNP – 1513
The Wrekin:
Mark Pritchard – Conservative – 21922
Paul Kalinauckas – Labour – 12472
Ali Daw – Lib Dem – 8019
Malcolm Hurst – UKIP – 2050
Sarah Harwood - BNP - 1505
By Chrissy Symmons