Election 2024: A guide to voting in Sheffield

Harry Harrison has the latest on how to vote in today's general election

Transcript

00:00Hello Sheffield, today is the day, it is election day. We will all be going to the polls to

00:07cast our votes to decide the next government that will lead our great nation. First of

00:14all, we will be discussing things you will need to cast your vote today if you are going

00:19to vote in person. Of course, please do not forget photo ID. It is a relatively new requirement,

00:26something we have seen needed in the last couple of years for local elections. This

00:29is the first time in a general election you will need that. That can be a driving licence,

00:35a passport, a blue badge if you have one, or a number of different travel cards like

00:41bus passes. But for a full list of the cards you can use and the photo ID that is acceptable,

00:47you can find a full list on the gov.uk website. Please do check those out if you are unsure.

00:53So what can we expect in Sheffield? You may be unsurprised to hear that we are expecting

00:59the city to stay red and to stay Labour. Polling with Ipsos, YouGov, a lot of the big pollsters

01:06that are very, very respected are suggesting that that is what is going to happen and it

01:11is likely that the city will stay red. Almost every seat in Sheffield, like Sheffield Central,

01:18Sheffield Healy, Sheffield Hillsborough and Brightside and Sheffield South East are almost

01:22certain to stay Labour. The incumbent is very, very popular, very, very large majorities.

01:28However, if you want to have a little bit of drama to cling on to and hope that we can

01:33have some surprises come Friday morning, please, please, please keep an eye on Sheffield Hallam

01:40and Penistone and Stocksbridge. Now we will start with Penistone and Stocksbridge and

01:44why that one is interesting. Of course, the one constituency we share with Barnsley, spreading

01:50over Stocksbridge in Sheffield and, of course, Penistone in Barnsley. The current incumbent

01:54MP, or who was the MP before the dissolution of Parliament for the election campaign, was

01:59Miriam Cates, a Conservative. But polling, according to YouGov, the MRP, which has been

02:04very, very accurate at previous elections, is suggesting that she could lose her seat.

02:09But it is not a massive margin and would not take many people to decide that they're

02:14not going to vote for a reform, for example, and to vote for Conservatives for her to potentially

02:19keep that seat. Now, again, looking at YouGov polling, Sheffield Hallam could be very, very

02:25interesting. Obviously, a very, very tight race in 2019. Olivia Blake for Labour only

02:30won the seat by a few hundred votes. And that was particularly after the issues with Jared

02:36O'Mara, who is now obviously serving prison time for fraud related to his time in office.

02:41Olivia Blake, obviously, as I say, only won by a few hundred votes. But Shafak Mohammed

02:47and the Lib Dems, Shafak is the Lib Dem candidate, are claiming that they have a good shot at

02:52Sheffield Hallam. They believe they have a good chance of taking that seat back, as it

02:56was, of course, once the constituency of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Good to keep an

03:02eye on that one. MRPs by YouGov and Ipsos do have it as a likely Labour seat, but not

03:10as certain as the other ones we have in Sheffield. So, as I say, if you are looking for a little

03:14bit of competition, a little bit of drama, something to cling on to, that we may have

03:17something interesting here, then keep an eye on those two seats. Myself and Julia Armstrong

03:23will be at the count live for the start tonight. Make sure you keep an eye on our live blog,

03:29which will be running throughout the day and into tomorrow for the latest updates.

03:34See you soon.