Rishi Sunak has announced that a general election will be held on July 4 – but how is each political party set to fare across East Lancashire?

At the 2019 general election, Blackburn stayed red as Boris’s blue tide swept across East Lancashire.

The Conservatives held on to Rossendale and Darwen, Pendle and Ribble Valley and seized Hyndburn and Burnley from Labour.

However, the political landscape is slightly different in 2024 to what it was in 2019, and polling is predicting this year's vote might have somewhat different outcomes.

Polling aggregator Electoral Calculus takes into account a range of polling data to predict the outcome if a General Election were held today.

Currently, it is predicting an entire Tory wipeout across Lancashire with all areas predicted to stay or turn to Labour.

In the Blackburn constituency, Labour has a 99 per cent chance of winning according to Electoral Calculus with the party predicted to obtain 40.6 per cent of the votes.

But an interesting question is how much independent Altaf 'Tiger' Patel's campaign make a difference to the vote in Blackburn, given how well the 4 BWD and Tiger himself did, winning wards from Labour by campaigning on the issue of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Burnley is currently served by Antony Higginbotham who is the first Conservative MP in the town since 1910, with a 0.4 per cent majority.

However, Electoral Calculus predictions suggest this could change with Labour predicted to take the seat back. Mr Higginbotham is given just a nine per cent chance of victory.

Jake Berry would also lose his seat in Rossendale and Darwen to Labour, according to the Electoral Calculus, with Labour predicted to get 51.3 per cent of votes.

His chances are even slimmer, at just five per cent, according to the polls.

Pendle's Andrew Stephenson and Hyndburn's Sara Britcliffe would also taste defeat at the hands of Keir Starmer's Labour party, if a vote were to be held today.

Pendle, where the boundaries will change to include Clitheroe, is given an 86 per cent chance of going to Labour.

Hyndburn meanwhile is expected to also go to Labour, with Miss Britcliffe given just a seven per cent chance of keeping her seat.

The Ribble Valley constituency has seen Clitheroe removed and parts of Preston added on, following the abolishment of the Wyre and Preston North seat.

Incumbent MP and Deputy Speaker, veteran Nigel Evans, is also predicted to be losing his seat to Labour, with Labour given a 70 per cent chance of taking the seat.

A general election will be held on July 4, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced.

Mr Sunak, who has been Prime Minister since October 2022, has called the election after months of speculation about its date.

The deadline for an election was January 2025.

Announcing the election, the Prime Minister said: "The king has granted the dissolution of parliament, and the election will be on 4 July."

In a sign that security and the economy will be key battlegrounds, Mr Sunak said: “This election will take place at time when the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War.”

The “uncertain times” call for a “clear plan”, he said.

A July election is earlier than many in Westminster had expected, with a contest in October or November widely thought to have been more likely