Cornwall general election count will take place on Thursday evening

The count and declaration for five out of the six parliamentary constituencies in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly at the forthcoming general election will now take place after the close of polls on the Thursday evening and not on Friday.

Announcing the decision, Cornwall’s returning officer, Kevin Lavery, said he had delayed making the final decision on the timing of the count to take into account the potential implications of the amendment to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill 2009 -10.

This would require returning officers to begin counting the votes within four hours of the close of polls unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Although it had been originally planned for the counts to begin on Friday morning to "reflect the logistical difficulties of a large rural county," Mr Lavery stated that he had taken note of the views of Parliament and had made a decision to change to Thursday evening "to remove the current uncertainty and to reflect the confidence he has in Cornwall’s electoral processes and staff."

The count for the St Ives and Isles of Scilly constituency will take place on Friday to allow time for the ballot boxes to be transferred from the islands back to the mainland.

“The special circumstances surrounding the Isles of Scilly mean that it is not possible to stage this count immediately after the close of polls as the ballot boxes have to be transported to the count centre on the mainland," said Mr Lavery.

“I originally considered delaying all the counts until the Friday so that all six could be carried out at the same time, but have decided instead to go ahead with the other five counts on the Thursday.”

There will be two count centres in Cornwall, each housing the counts for three parliamentary constituencies.

The count for the constituencies of St Ives, Camborne and Redruth and Truro and Falmouth will be held at the Carn Brea leisure centre in Pool, while the count for the constituencies of St Austell and Newquay, North Cornwall and South East Cornwall will be held at the Falcon Ridge Sports Academy in Dobwalls.