LONDON: Opinion polls project Britain's Labour Party is on course to return to government with a large majority in Thursday's national election after 14 years in opposition.
Polls close at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) and results will be announced in each of the parliament's 650 constituencies throughout the evening.
Since the last UK general election in December 2019, new constituency boundaries have been applied to reflect population changes, and some seats have been removed and replaced.
Below are ten seats to watch that could provide clues as to how the rest of the night will play out, in order of expected speaking time:
Basildon and Billericay results expected at 23:15 GMT
The seat, contested by Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden, has been comfortably won by the governing Conservatives in every election since its creation in 2010.
A win here would mean Labour would overturn a majority of more than 20,000 votes and could be a sign of the size of the landslide Labour victory to come.
Broxbourne, results expected at 23:15 GMT
The Conservatives have won this seat in every election since its creation in 1983. In 2019, they won it with a majority of just under 20,000 votes.
A Labour victory in Broxbourne would be a huge loss for the Conservatives and an early indication of the scale of a possible national swing towards Labour leader Keir Starmer's party.
Swindon South, results expected at 2330 GMT
Swindon South is a bellwether constituency, having elected a representative of the governing party at every election since 1983.
Former Conservative justice minister Robert Buckland has been a member of parliament since 2010 and holds a majority of 6,625 votes.
This is the kind of seat that Labour would comfortably win if it achieved the large majority predicted by opinion polls.
Cranlington and Killingworth, results expected at 23:45 GMT
This newly formed constituency includes most of the former Blyth Valley seat, which was the first seat in the formerly Labour areas known as the “Red Wall” to be taken by the Conservatives in 2019.
The Conservatives overturned a majority of 7,915 votes in the seat, which had been held by Labour since its formation in 1950.
A victory here for the Labour Party could mark the start of rebuilding the wall.
Hamilton and Clyde Valley results expected at 0045 GMT
This is a newly created seat in Scotland, but its predecessor, Lanark and Hamilton East, had been held by the Scottish National Party (SNP) since it was won from Labour in 2015.
In the last election in 2019, the Labour Party came third, behind the Conservatives.
If Labour wins this seat, it could signal that the party has achieved the kind of breakaway from the SNP it needs to win back many of the Scottish seats it lost in 2015, when Labour was virtually wiped out in its former stronghold.
Cannock Chase, result expected at 01:00 GMT
Labour would need to make a major step forward to regain Cannock Chase, which it held from 1997 to 2010. The Conservatives won by a majority of almost 20,000 votes in 2019.
Modeled by opinion pollsters YouGov has projected a Labour victory here, a result that could indicate that the Conservatives are in for a very bad night.
This constituency also voted 69% in favour of leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, so a victory here could signal a recovery in support for Labour in Brexit-backing areas.
Castle Point, result expected at 01:00 GMT
Conservative candidate Rebecca Harris, who has held the seat since 2010, won a majority of more than 26,600 votes in the last election.
The region voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU in 2016 and the pro-Brexit UK Independence Party (UKIP) won 30% of the vote in the 2015 election.
If Reform UK, led by Brexit campaigner and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, wins here, it would be a strong indication of rising support for his party in Brexit-supporting areas and bad news for Rishi Sunak's Conservatives.
Godalming and Ash, result expected at 0230 GMT
The seat is being contested by Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt, who has been a member of parliament for the area since 2005. Some polls have predicted he will lose it to the Liberal Democrats.
If Hunt is defeated, his fate will symbolise a collapse of Conservative support in the wealthy “home counties” around London, which had been solid for more than a century.
Hunt has never seen his vote share in his constituency fall below 50%, but YouGov has predicted it will fall to 29%, with the Liberal Democrats on 46%.
Watford, result expected at 0300 GMT
This is considered a landmark seat, having elected a lawmaker from the winning party in every British general election since 1974.
In the last election in 2019, the Conservatives won with a majority of just over 4,400 votes.
Clacton, result expected at 0300 GMT
Some polls have predicted that Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, will win Clacton, in his eighth attempt to win a seat in parliament.
The seat, which the Conservatives won in 2019 with a majority of more than 24,700 votes, was held by Farage's previous party, the pro-Brexit UKIP, in 2015.
