that is the backdrop and i am going to pass you to reeta chakrabarti who is in downing street to take general election. earlier, our political editor chris mason observed that he was seeing behaviour from the likes of the civil service that you" would only expect on a day that an election is called" and also reports that home office ministers' diaries are being cleared. you won't be able to see this, but there are about 115 journalists here, or waiting expecta ntly. journalists here, or waiting expectantly. we don't yet know whether an announcement will be made, but that speculation has been growing all day and has reached a pitch this afternoon. i am joined now by our political editor chris mason. ~ ., ., now by our political editor chris mason. ~ . ., .. ., now by our political editor chris mason. ~ ., ., ,, ., mason. what do we know? it looks likel that mason. what do we know? it looks likely that we _ mason. what do we know? it looks likely that we are _ mason. what do we know? it looks likely that we are going _ mason. what do we know? it looks likely that we are going to - mason

reeta chakrabarti has been looking at the results in more detail.ered by—election of the night, triggered by the resignation of the conservative mp and it was a resounding labour victory. labours chris webber won it with a majority of 7600 and ijust chris webber won it with a majority of 7600 and i just want to show you the swing from conservative to labour. that is a whopping 26% and i can tell you this was the third largest drop in conservative support in any by—election since the war, so a really thumping victory there. in terms of local council results, these are some of the most eye—catching. redditch and the west midlands, that was conservative. it's a labour gain from the conservatives. the conservatives had a three seat majority on this council and that's been translated into a 15 seat majority for labour and you can see here the figures speaking for themselves. labour gaining ten seats, the conservatives losing 11 and one seat going to the greens. so a really interesting result there. i want to take you next to rushmore in hampshire. this h

reeta chakrabarti will bring us the numbers as the hours tick by.he seats at the main parties are defending. just under 1000 for the conservatives, and for labourjust 1000 for the conservatives, and for labour just over 1000 for the conservatives, and for labourjust over 400 for the lib dems. there are 640 local council seats and 35 english councils. there will be three police and crime commissioners and also that house of commons seat blackpool south. i will bringing you the result and looking at the figures and the trends behind them. of course, the nation's number cruncher professor sirjohn curtice will explain how the landscape is shaping up. 0ur political editor chris mason will tell us what that could mean. and top politicians from the parties will be with us in the studio — with smiles or brave faces as the night goes on. so, join us for election night on the bbc. the results are already coming in. a very warm welcome to election night on the bbc — there is a dizzying array of contests to keep an eye on. each race is important in its own righ