Out for the count - an invite to witness history

Having spent more than 25 years as a regional journalist, it struck me as something of a late debut to attend a first General Election count last night. 

Invited as a guest to observe proceedings, it was an offer rapidly accepted, a rare opportunity to witness history, whatever the outcome for my hometown. For Cleethorpes had been redrawn to join its North East Lincolnshire bedfellow and conjoined town of Grimsby by the Boundary Commission, having been given its own entity for the first time when I was first old enough to vote. 

I’d joined the junior reporting ranks of the Grimsby Telegraph, two months after Tony Blair’s Labour landslide of 1997. Shona McIsaac took the resort by storm after Brigg was lopped off and Michael Brown was felled. By the time Blair took the country to the polls again, I was part of the newsdesk team, holed up in the newsroom on the first floor of Telegraph House, managing the flow of copy from reporters as they recorded results and reaction.

For me, professionally, my first experience of one of these big overnight events was focused on getting an election special off the press, while watching the national picture emerge from a portable television atop a filing cabinet. Excitement, adrenaline, sugar and caffeine-based sustenance aplenty. Always a greasy spoon breakfast gathering to digest it all. But nothing much really changed on the political front.  

By 2005 the office had a fancier wall-mounted flat screen television, but Austin Mitchell held Grimsby (as he had since I was in nappies) and Shona McIsaac held Cleethorpes. The eastern end of the Red Wall may have suffered slightly from a 'coastal erosion' of large majorities, but it remained intact.  

As my primary focus switched to business, still the all-nighters were pulled. Only now I was glued to them at home, and had to get my own breakfast! 

2015 provided an accidental foray into political reporting, with a business hustings attended out of interest providing the rope for UKIP’s Victoria Ayling to publicly hang herself with. ‘What if renewable energy runs out’ was an ill-judged, no doubt tongue-tied response to questions on Net Zero, in the emerging centre of excellence and global leading cluster for offshore wind. The assumption was that she meant ‘what if the wind doesn’t blow and sun doesn’t shine?’, those, grey, still, cold February and November days where gas, and until very recently coal, was required. But assumptions are dangerous, and she didn’t correct herself. An early lesson in media training there. Filing some column inches, her words - via my pen - were picked up and reported globally. Having been tipped as a potential shock, she slipped into third. Never to be seen in North East Lincolnshire again. 

From there on in it has been something of a rollercoaster ride. The Brexit result going against the exit poll, and the divisions it subsequently caused in 2017 and 2019, together with Covid, and the recovery. It all lead to some unprecedented changes and the 10 Downing Street revolving door, and all the uncertainty it has brought.  

So back to today’s early hours. Melanie Onn looking to take back the adjusted seat of Grimsby (and Cleethorpes) from Lia Nici, at the first time of asking. Exit poll published as I walked past ‘The Comeback’ arts venue to get from car park to the town hall, a sign of the times was certainly expected. 

But inside, faces above red rosettes weren’t all smiles. And there was confidence, not from the Nici camp, but Reform UK. Suddenly the young councillor turned candidate, Oliver Freeston, could be the talking point of the night on a national level. Farage’s flock was tipped to hit 13 seats. Could this be one?  

A target town, Grimsby had been a big focus in the campaign. Sky brought Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak to the very room where the count was held to host one of the blockbuster battles to win favour.  

Mingling with former media colleagues, rubbing shoulders with the candidates and their supporters, it was a tense, enjoyable and enthralling six hours.  

As the votes piled up there didn’t seem to be too much in it, Labour by a bit was the feeling. As it turned out, that bit was almost 5,000. It became clear moments before the official declaration as congratulations and commiserations were shared between them.

Coastal erosion? A ‘Starmer tsunami’ is how the BBC’s Chris Mason put the national picture, whereas in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, an ebb and flow had completed, albeit over a four-and-a-half-year political term rather than the tidal 12 hours. I heard Onn being asked if it could become a safe seat. Her initial predecessor, Mitchell, awkwardly and wrongly suggested anyone with a red rosette could win Grimsby, and I'm being kind with my paraphrasing – she said there was no such thing any longer, and quite right she is in these turbulent times.  

Now many eyes - including my own in my relatively new role at Fred, with a focus on our client portfolio - will be on big issues like devolution, clean energy roll-out, the aligned issue of industry decarbonisation and progress of freeports. How quick, how big, and how important for this patch it will be. 

Business will want stability, certainty, and growth. The people want to be served better by key services. Where the cash is, and comes from, will be the key question now.