but that's still way down on the 50,000 who voted in here in the 2019 general election, a turnout of over 70%. whilst this is kettering leisure village is where we will hear the wellingborough result. it is always hard to predict these things but it's certainly going to be a few hours before we get any results. this is a big test for the parties in what, of course, is expected to be a general election year. the conservatives hold the seats. labour are the main challenger. voters in kingswood in south gloucestershire — which is on the edge of the city of bristol — have been to the polls

following the resignation of ex—conservative mp chris skidmore. the former minister stood down last month over the government's energy plans. the other by—election in wellingborough, was called following a recall petition in the northamptonshire constituency. it was prompted by former tory mp peter bone�*s suspension from the house of commons for six weeks, for breaching the mps�* code of conduct. well, there has aleady been what we could describe as some "expectation management" from both the conservatives and labour party who issued statements after the polls had closed. the tory one said... "we have fought robust campaigns on the ground in both of these seats with local candidates. but these by—elections were always going to be hard. the government of the day rarely win by—elections". whilst the labour statement said "we were always aware of the challenge ahead of us with the large conservative majorities in both seats, which are both beyond our target list for

a general election." correspondent harry farley is in wellingborough, what is the news on the ground, when are we expecting a result? we news on the ground, when are we expecting a result?— expecting a result? we are expecting _ expecting a result? we are expecting a _ expecting a result? we are expecting a result - expecting a result? we are expecting a result around | expecting a result? we are - expecting a result around 4am, expecting a result around liam, defending a majority of more than 18,000 here but in recent by elections, labour have overturned majorities larger than that. they would need around about 18% swing to do the same thing here, to take the same thing here, to take the seat of the conservatives that we have seen swings larger than that in recent by elections. you mentioned the expectation management in your introduction there, there's been a certain amount of their here as well, but earlier i spoke to labor�*s shadow environment minister who is the lead on the ground, toby

perkins. always disappointed if you don't win any by election. but i mean, ithink the very fact that we're asking that question when we're talking historically large majorities, a seat that we haven't been within 11,000 votes of winning in any of the last four elections is a mark of the progress that we've made under keirstarmer. we've got a great candidate. we've run a really positive campaign. we've had a great response. so yeah, we're really hopeful that we might get a great result, but it would be a historic result if we did it. butjust to be clear, anything other than a victory is a disappointment for you this evening. well, because we want to win elections, we think we've got the best candidate. we think we've run the best campaign. we think the country has a thirst for change. so for that reason, of course, we expect and want to win every election we go into. but i think it's important to have context here. you know, this would be a truly remarkable result. and the fact that we've almost started to take it for granted or used to take for granted these remarkable results says a tremendous amount about the progress we've made. but everything we've seen so far is suggests it's still going to be a very close contest

and we're just hopeful we've got over the line. are you worried about the impact of reform, formerly known, of course, as the brexit party on your vote here tonight? well, i think we've fought a good contest against everyone else. i think you're right to say that or imply that this reform voters who might otherwise have voted, labour reform voters who might otherwise have voted conservative, i don't think any of us will know until the election is over what the impact of that is. but the fact that we can come in to constituencies that had substantially votes and be really competitive gives us huge cause for optimism. do you think this is an indication then the fact that you are challenging in a seat like this? do you think this is an indication that that so—called red wall that the conservatives won back so many seats in in 2019? do you think that's a sign that you could be winning those seats back? well, absolutely. we you know, those seats are ones we want to win back.

this is nowhere near a red wall. see, this is the seat that the conservatives won even when labour had a majority of 60 back in 2005. so there's no comparison in that regard. but we are absolutely are out to win all the seats that we need to win to win a general election. this wasn't even on that list up until the by—election being called. but the fact that we're now here fighting for every vote, thinking that we've got a chance, is massively uplifting for us. and you've been the campaign leader here for labour for a number of weeks. what are the main things that you found out we found coming up on the doorstep as you speak to people here? well, i think that from the perspective of voters here, there is a real disaffection with the conservatives at a variety of levels, particularly, of course, around the government, but also here in northamptonshire. i think people have shown us that they are willing to give the labour party a fresh hearing. i think that they've responded really well to the bright candidate that we've got and i think the message that we've had on the doorsteps has been positively received. so we're hopeful.

you know, we really are hopeful. it's been a difficult week for the labour party with questions swirling around antisemitism and whether you do due diligence on your candidates. do you think that might have an impact here tonight? well, i think we'll know better about that at the end of the election. but in terms of my experience on the doorstep, actually, you know, people were not talking about the events of the last two years. they were talking about the events of the last two days. it was only the events of the last 14 years. and i think that these you know, the issue of sort of the labour party's travails in the last few days really hasn't featured much more people have said to me, but, you know, we'll get a result in a few hours' time and i think we'll be able to to put this week's events into context at that point. we were talking there about the reformed uk party, that is the added element here, reform uk

the party at nigel faraj plays a big part in. this is an area that voted heavily to leave the european union, with 63% round about people here looked voted to leave the eu in 2016 and the reform uk party will be hoping they can get a vote share of about 10% or at least 10% which is roughly how they have been pulling in recent polls. and that could be a key factor whether they take votes off of conservatives. so away from that main labour conservative battle, the reform uk party how they will do could well be the way, aspirational england and all that parties will be looking at the result here today for indication of how those middle england aspirational voters will vote in a general election.- in a general election. yes, har . in a general election. yes, harry- i've _ in a general election. yes, harry. i'vejust _ in a general election. yes, harry. i've just been - in a general election. yes, i harry. i'vejust been looking harry. i've just been looking at social media and are already at social media and are already a lot of people are saying that labour are going to wind welling bro. are you getting any sense of mood music from

the people there in the account at the moment?— at the moment? well, i think labour-mack _ at the moment? well, i think labour-mack are _ at the moment? well, i think labour-mack are quietly - labour—mack are quietly confident. there is an expectation at this stage of the night we have to remember voting, they are still verifying votes behind me, they haven't started counting, we don't know that you're not here yet. so it's still very early days here. i think obviously there's lots of speculation, lots of expectation management but the moment i think labour—mack are quite confident and the conservatives wanting to get their message out there wanting to mad manage expectations here about how well they do.— well they do. you've got the coffee on — well they do. you've got the coffee on the _ well they do. you've got the coffee on the go _ well they do. you've got the coffee on the go there, - well they do. you've got the coffee on the go there, will| well they do. you've got the i coffee on the go there, will be back to you later, that's harry farley in willingboro. let's head to kingswood that's being counted in thornbury, now you can see the live shot of the counters there, hannah miller is our correspondent there. and hannah, we had the turnout in the last hour?- turnout in the last hour? yeah, we absolutely _ turnout in the last hour? yeah, we absolutely have _ turnout in the last hour? yeah,

we absolutely have come - turnout in the last hour? yeah, we absolutely have come in - turnout in the last hour? yeah, we absolutely have come in a l we absolutely have come in a key. turnout here in kingswood was 37.1%, that's a huge drop compared to what it was during the general election, of course by—elections often have fewer people turning out, only about half the number of voters that there were in 2019. we are slightly ahead and schedule here in kingswood tonight, hoping for a result between 2—3 o'clock in the morning now. you can see the votes are being counted, people standing over, watching, trying to get a sense of what's going on with those bellying ballot papers, red, blue, yellow, green, gives a sense of which party could be doing fairly well. we would say at this point that the labour party seemed to be kind of quietly confident they are keeping it, you can see them down there, not wanting to say too much of the moment. they are having a little huddle and discussing i think what they might be saying in the coming

hours or so. they did have significantly more of a spring in their step than they certainly did earlier, compared to some of the other parties when the votes were first being verified. we haven't heard exactly what they got to say it but we were able to speak to the deputy chairman of the conservative party a little earlier, this is what he had to say back then. the first couple of ballot boxes have just arrived here in thornbury leisure centre, so it's far too early to have any understanding of what the result might be. but the campaign has been very positive. we've been taking the message out to every single door in the constituency over the last few weeks. we've had an excellent local candidate in sam bromley, someone who's been a councillor here for many years. you serve the community well and who feels passionately about some of the issues he's been campaigning on, like protecting greenspaces like keeping car parking free in south gloucestershire. so we're optimistic about what the result might bring. we've worked it hard and we'll have to see what the result is in the next few hours. 0ptimistic? does that mean confident and confident you can win? well, we'll see what the result is in a few hours' time.

we haven't got too long to wait, but we have had a very positive campaign. we've spoken to thousands of people over the last few weeks. we've had a good response on the doorstep, and i think that's been down to the fact that we've had such a fantastic local candidate who grew up in the community, who's lived here all his life, who served as a parish councillor. a south gloucestershire councillor leads for the conservative group on south wiltshire council. people have responded well to that message and we'll have to see what the result brings in a few hours' time. if the labour candidate grew up here but moved to london and said that he would move back, we're having this by election because chris skidmore, the former conservative mp, resigned, said that the government should be pushing ahead more quickly with net zero policies and he's since refused to endorse the conservative party in this byelection and said that if you lose then you should take a lesson from that, that people want to hear more about green issues. is that the lesson that you would take if you were to lose here? well, firstly, chris is a very good friend of mine. i still speak to him regularly and very much wish him well, although i disagree with the decision he took. he actually has said in the last few days that he greatly admires

the conservative candidate on a personal level. so i think we'll see what the result brings in a few hours' time and not to start speculating about what it might, may or may not mean. all i can really tell you at this point is we've had a great campaign, we've enjoyed it. we've spoken to thousands of people and we picked a fantastic local candidate. once upon a time, we wouldn't have been talking about majorities of over 11,000 even being in play in a in an election like this, the labour party clearly think that they can potentially win here tonight. are you worried about what it means for a general election if again kingswood goes labour tonight? well, byelections are always difficult for governing parties. tony blair lost by elections, david cameron lost by elections and then went on to win majorities and actually increase their share of the vote at the next general election. so i think we should be careful about reading too much into any specific by election result because lots of different factors are at play, but it's too early to tell what this result might be. we'lljust have to wait a few hours and find out. but we fought a great campaign. i'm proud of what we've done,

and i very much hope we get a good result tonight. what does it mean for rishi sunak�*s leadership if the conservative party were to lose two by elections tonight? well, again, i don't think we should be speculating on results where we haven't even started counting the votes yet. let's see what that brings in a few hours' time. the pm provided very strong leadership over the last year and enjoy serving under him as the prime minister. but let's see what it was offering in a few hours' time. i think it's important not to read too much into any of these results because they're always tough governing parties. but we fought a really positive campaign. we've had a great candidate. we haven't got long to wait. i thought it was interesting, optimistic but not necessarily particularly confident, the conservative party. and that very much fits with the mood music that we've been hearing from the national party as well, them reintegrating that message that it's often hard for governor in parties to win by elections. they were coming out with that ten o'clock this

evening frankly even before the votes had been cast in the selection, but there is not a huge amount of confidence among the sick conservative party i think i'm hearing things with. the mp, whoever it is, they gets voted in tonight, won't actually be on that seat for very long because it's actually been abolished under the boundary changes, isn't it? and there's a certain high profile tory mp who will be keeping quite an eye on the seat. there certainly is. _ quite an eye on the seat. there certainly is, the _ quite an eye on the seat. there certainly is, the people - certainly is, the people might�*ve heard of a certain jacob rees—mogg, his constituency our neighbours here, and when kingswood get split up into a number of constituencies during the laundry changes in the general election, a sizeable chunk of kingswood actually becomes a part of his seat. how much different that actually makes, is quite difficult to say this point because it slightly more rural part of the conviction that becomes part of his seat but he'll certainly be

listening to be a result here and looking at exactly where those votes have gone and it is of interest to him and the boundary changes of course will be absolutely huge in terms of changing the shape of the next general election.— general election. hannah, i'm 'ust general election. hannah, i'm just been _ general election. hannah, i'm just been looking _ general election. hannah, i'm just been looking at _ general election. hannah, i'm just been looking at the - general election. hannah, i'm just been looking at the bbc | just been looking at the bbc news life page that's up and running, there is a live demo candidate saying, you'll be very hard to wind down there, we haven't heard much about the lib dems, they are not necessarily much in the running down there? i necessarily much in the running down there?— down there? i don't think so, reall , down there? i don't think so, really. if _ down there? i don't think so, really, if we're _ down there? i don't think so, really, if we're honest. - down there? i don't think so, really, if we're honest. theyl really, if we're honest. they got around 7% of the vote last time, they are in charge of the south gloucestershire council, they do very much have a presence but i think in terms of national politics and fighting, a kind of national campaign this is very much being seen as a two horse race between labour and the conservatives. i would say it really has been us proper two horse race, this isn't

something we can talk about it