Kent general election: Dartford

Polling stations have closed and exit polls are predicting a landslide win for Labour.

As counting begins in the country’s oldest bellwether seat, will Dartford voters reflect the predicted mood of the nation?

If they do Conservativ’s Gareth Johnson will lose the position he has held as Dartford MP for the last 14 years and hand the role over to Labour candidate Jim Dickson.

Early indications suggest a high turn-out at voting stations across the town with queues forming at points throughout the day.

In the past few weeks Gareth Johnson, for the Conservatives, Jim Dickson for Labour, Kyle Marsh for the Liberal Democrats, Laura Edie for the Green party and Lee Stranders have been canvassing in the hope they can secure a win.

At the last election Mr Johnson walked away with 34,006 votes, with a 19,846 majority over second place Labour candidate Sacha Gosine.

Mr Johnson has been the town’s MP for 14 years, having taken over from Labour’s Dr Howard Stoate in 2010, at the same time the Tories ran Gordon Brown out of office nationally.

But in the days leading up to this election, things were not looking good for the Tory incumbent with pollsters predicting his majority in 2019 is likely to vanish on a huge 16% swing to Labour.

All will be revealed when counting is complete with the results at the Civic Centre expected to be announced around 4am.