General Election 2024: Diary of the election night count from Newbury

PART 2

It all began in earnest just before 2’o’clock in the morning of July 5. A nervous hush fell, and the flutter of ballot papers being shuffled down long tables filled the hall in the counting chamber at Newbury College.

The 104 volunteer counters – thumbs and fore fingers primed with rubber – began the task of flicking through 95,819 ballot papers.

The combined total number of votes cast for the Newbury seat and the newly formed Reading West and Mid Berkshire.

Nigel Lynn, the laconic returning officer – that’s the person in charge of the count – announces the count has begun and calls for hush.

He’d earlier admitted that the number of counters was down from the usual 180 – because he couldn’t find a venue big enough at short notice.

The election was only called six weeks ago, and while he had dibs on Newbury Racecourse as the venue in the widely predicted November election, the only place he could find was Newbury College sports hall.

He always takes great care with his selection of tie. A suitably non-partisan grey one this time.

He admits the ruined ballots sometimes give the counters some light relief. A smattering of genitalia is to be expected apparently. A smiley face in the box also ruins a paper, perhaps harshly!

The nervous, slightly sweaty looking political agents of all parties shimmy up and down the tables in what can best be described as a pecking motion, hawking over the shoulders of the counters, and trying to gauge who got what vote ahead of the actual final count some hours away.

Part 1:

It’s always interesting to see who brings what to an all nighter.

The election ballot papers are brought in in boxes after the polls shut at 10pm.

So the night begins then.

This year, West Berkshire Council is MC-ing the two seats of Newbury and Reading West and Mid Berkshire.

There’s a marquee outside the Newbury College sports hall, suggesting some level of catering, even finely turned out waiters and a glass of Prosecco or some such like. But no. The marquee is more of a windy gazebo.

There are some biscuits, which last a few minutes, and some of that indeterminate tea/coffee and some uncomfortable chairs.

One enthusiastic young reporter on his first election announces with delight that McDonald’s is open 24 hours nearby, and that he can probably consume a lot of burgers and put it on expenses.

Some of the clearly exhausted activists are in fresh from the final bout of pavement bashing to get those last few votes in the box have turned up armed with their own sorry looking garage sandwiches.

The Lib Dem camp seems to have thought ahead and seem to have a lot of bananas.

There are enough Percy Pigs, Haribos and packets of sweets to put a small army into a diabetic coma.

The unfortunate lack of available seats has seen the college sports hall toilets made good alternative use of.

Outside the hall, the candidates appear calm, but tense at the same time, and there is some cross party vaping.