10 seats to watch after the vote: From marginals to bellwethers, these are the contests to follow as the General Election results roll in

 

Energy minister Ed Davey is defending his seat in this southwest London constituency. In 2010, Davey took half of the votes, with the Conservatives coming in second with 37 per cent. This time around, the Tories are targeting the seat, hoping to win with support from voters opposing taxes on high-value properties.

 

 

Thurrock could be where Ukip wins its first-ever seat in a General Election, with results due at 3am. (Party members Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless secured their seats in the last parliament through by-elections.) Senior Ukip members say they are confident in their candidate, Tim Aker, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) who is looking to upset Tory incumbent Jackie Doyle-Price.

 

 

Douglas Alexander, Labour’s campaign chief and shadow foreign secretary, is fighting to hold this seat just southwest of Glasgow. Polls indicate the seat may go the way of dozens of other Scottish seats, with former Labour voters switching allegiance to support the SNP.

 

 

 

It would be a blow to the Tories if education secretary Nicky Morgan loses her seat in this key East Midlands marginal constituency. The Conservatives took the seat back from Labour in 2010 by a slim 3,700 votes. The last Lord Ashcroft poll of the constituency showed Morgan nine points ahead of her Labour opponent, Matthew O’Callaghan. 

 

 

Sheffield Hallam is arguably the most consequential contest of the General Election, as deputy prime minister Nick Clegg looks to return to the House of Commons in the next government. A Lord Ashcroft snapshot last week put Clegg on track to lose by two points to Labour candidate Oliver Coppard. But an ICM poll Monday eased the minds of many Lib Dems, showing Clegg on course to win by seven points. ICM predicted Clegg would be aided by tactical votes.

 

 

The Green party’s first-ever MP Caroline Lucas is hoping to hold on to her seat in this three-way marginal constituency. In 2010, the former Green party leader narrowly beat out her Labour and the Conservative opponents, who took 29 and 24 per cent of the vote, respectively, compared with Lucas’s 31 per cent. 

 

 

 

This Highland constituency could deliver one of the most stunning defeats of this year’s General Election. Chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, a Liberal Democrat, won with 41 per cent of the vote in 2010, and went on to serve as a key figure in the coalition. Now, multiple polls point to an outcome in which Alexander is decisively defeated at the hands of the SNP.

 

 

Employment minister Esther McVey won Wirral West from Labour in 2010 by 2,426 votes. In doing so, she became the first Tory MP elected in the constituency since 1992. Now she is hoping to hold onto her seat despite recent polls suggesting she trails the Labour candidate.

 

 

 

Ukip party leader Nigel Farage has hedged his bets on Thanet South voters sending him to Westminster. The coastal constituency elected a Tory in 2010, with Lara Sandys picking up nearly half of the vote. And while Ukip has been campaigning aggressively in the area for months, and Farage was considered an early favourite, multiple polls now indicate the race is too close to call.

 

 

Dartford is one of the country’s strongest bellwether seats, having returned an MP from the party that went on to win in every General Election since 1964. Poll-watchers will have to wait until 4am to see if its predictive nature proves true again.

 

 

 

 

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