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Louise Thomas
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Watch live as vote counters in the North East race to declare the first result of the UK general election on Thursday (4 July).
Vote counters are set to start their long-standing tradition of racing to declare the first result at 11pm.
Ballot-counting rivals as well as football rivals, Sunderland and Newcastle have competed against each other for first place since Sunderland won in 1992.
It held onto this title until Newcastle beat them in 2017 and again in 2019.
But a changing of constituency boundaries means Newcastle will be recieving ballot boxes from neighbouring wards in North Tyneside for this general election, which is likely to cause delays and put them outside the usual 90-minute time frame.
The city council has declared that their priority will be accuracy rather than speed, meaning a third contender, Blyth and Ashington, has a shot at being the first constituency to declare their next MP.
