General Election 2019: Northampton Conservatives thrilled with exit poll results as they say Brexit message was 'hammered home'

BBC exit polls released at 10pm suggest that the Tories are on course to win 368 seats, which would be a majority of 86, with Labour down 71 seats to 191.

Both Northampton North and South are tightly contested with majorities of just under and over 1,000 respectively, but the Conservatives say they remain 'confident' that all seven seats in Northamptonshire will remain blue.

Parliamentary candidates Michael Ellis (Northampton North) and Andrew Lewer (Northampton South) have yet to turn up at the count at Lings Forum, but county councillor Adam Brown said that voters had warmed to the party's stance on Brexit.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "If the exit polls are true then it has exceeded our expectations. Locally we were pretty confident but you can never tell.

"Nobody has been able to escape 'Get Brexit Done', but it's been a strong message that has hit home with voters. You have the Liberal Democrats promising to reverse it, and then Labour struggling to be coherent on it.

"It's also come down to leadership. Boris divides opinion but person after person on the doorstep didn't want Jeremy Corbyn to be leader. I think people thought his offering wasn't realistic.

"From what I have seen, we are confident of keeping all seven seats blue in Northamptonshire."

But local Labour candidates have said they are still confident they will take both Northampton seats despite the exit poll results.

The results are expected to be announced between 3am and 5am for Northampton North and South.

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