How will the results be viewed in the “Tory War Room”?
Could the outcomes not quite reach expectations?
With the polls due to close at 10pm all the focus has been on Labour with talk at one stage of a high-profile name making a big announcement at 10pm. Who knows?
But what about the Tories? Could they find both the locals and the Euros something of a disappointment. The problems here, of course, are that the minor parties who hardly ever get a look in are seeing a big increase in their profile and inevitably the big parties suffer.
The polling projections of the likely outcome of the Euro vote are hardly inspiring. It looks as though the Tories will be sub-30% and might not be much up on their 26.6% of 2004. No doubt Labour will be pointing to that performance as a way of diverting attention from their likely poor dismal showing.
The locals, overnight and tomorrow, will be crucial and here they are likely to suffer from the “other party” effect. Their projected national vote share is likely to be down on the 44% of last year.