Behind the scenes at Suffolk Coastal's historic result

The working day resumed for me at 1am on Friday, when I arrived at Brackenbury Sports Centre in Felixstowe, armed with a laptop, iPhone, and a bag full of sugary snacks to keep me awake.

Unsurprisingly, the sports centre was already thrumming with activity. Having been ushered upstairs to the balcony overlooking the sporting court, I could see the counters ready and waiting at long lines of tables, waiting for the total number of results to be declared.

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The counting for Suffolk Coastal took place at Brackenbury Sports Centre in Felixstowe. Image: Google Maps (Image: Google Maps) Reporter Abygail Fossett arrived at the count for 1am. (Image: Newsquest)

The counting took place in Felixstowe. (Image: Charlotte Bond)

To the edges of the room, campaigners had congregated in little clusters, heads together and clearly eager for the count to get going. When I arrived, the Liberal Democrat Julia Ewart was already in attendance, as was the Green candidate Julian Cusack.

There was no sign of the Labour candidate Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, and I was told that Dame Therese Coffey for the Conservatives (who had held the seat since 2010) had not been seen in some time.

This being my first election as a journalist (and in my own constituency at that!), a more experienced press officer from East Suffolk Council explained that those from the parties expected to attract larger swathes of the vote will usually arrive later.

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter was the Labour candidate for Suffolk Coastal. Image: Labour Party (Image: Labour Party) Dame Therese Coffey was the Conservative candidate for Suffolk Coastal (Image: PA)

At about 1.15am, it was declared that 49,636 votes had been cast, from a total electorate of 74,522. This was 66.6% of the vote.

Our group chat for those of us from the Ipswich Star and EADT was likewise buzzing with activity, with all of us feeding off each other’s adrenaline. Suffolk Coastal had the highest turnout, my colleagues stationed in West Suffolk, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket told me excitedly.

It was interesting to chat to journalists from other outlets too, comparing notes on how we thought the night would go.

Surely the Conservatives would maintain their hold on Suffolk Coastal, myself and a reporter for BBC News agreed. In 2019, Dr Coffey, or Dame Therese as she was now, had won a majority of 20,533 votes over her nearest rival, Labour’s Cameron Matthews.

However, exit polls were predicting that Dame Therese’s hold on the constituency, which had been Conservative ever since its inception in 1983, was weakening.

There had been a number of stories regarding Dame Therese’s role as environment secretary, with constituents poking fun at her track record of dealing with pollution in our rivers.

Perhaps the Labour candidate, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, had a chance after all, we mused.

Ms Riddell-Carpenter had made much of her childhood spent growing up in Martlesham Heath, and she had pledged to make special educational needs and disabilities and adult social provision in our county a top priority, which we thought would appeal to voters.

Reform, too, were expected to scoop up many votes from dissatisfied former Tory voters. I caught up with the Liberal Democrat candidate Julia Ewart, who agreed with this view, saying that Reform had driven a “freight train” through the Conservative vote.

Julia Ewart was the Liberal Democrat candidate. Image: Suffolk Coastal Liberal Democrats (Image: Suffolk Coastal Liberal Democrats) Suffolk Coastal Green Party Candidate Julian Cusack (left), pictured beside Adrian Ramsay. Image: East Suffolk Green Party (Image: East Suffolk Green Party)

By around 3am, all the candidates had arrived - except for Reform’s Matthew Jackson, who never showed up, despite coming third place.

By 4am, the results were in. We all made out way downstairs and jostled for position.

When it was announced that yes, Labour had won the seat by just over 1,000 votes, there were gasps and cheers from Ms Riddell-Carpenter’s campaign team.

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (centre, in red trousers) celebrates with her campaign team after being announced as Suffolk Coastal's new MP. (Image: Newsquest)

Dame Therese took her defeat in good grace, and wished Ms Riddell-Carpenter all the best. She was keen to make a quick exit, and so none of us were able to speak with her before she left, with all of us having made a beeline for the new MP.

Ms Riddell-Carpenter thanked Dame Therese for her “clean campaign”, and said she was eager to get stuck into serving her new constituents, regardless of how they had voted.

Finally, it was time to pack up and go. By 6am, most of us had put our laptops away – ready to come home and start work again bright and early in a few hours’ time.