General Election TV coverage: Who’s on what channel and what can they report?
Campaigning is still allowed on election day, but it cannot be transmitted on TV or radio
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Britain headed to the polls on Thursday July 4, and broadcasters are planning extensive coverage of the election.
Most coverage will begin as voting ends across the country and run through the night.
The pre-election period is a busy time for broadcasters as they join parliamentary candidates on the campaign trail. But there are strict restrictions on what they can broadcast during election day itself.
Ofcom – which regulates broadcasters in the UK – says “discussion and analysis of election and referendum issues must finish when the poll opens” in its election guidance.
This means they cannot broadcast any political speeches or interviews from 7am to 10pm.
Campaigning is still allowed on election day, but it cannot be transmitted on TV or radio. Any TV or radio speeches posted to social media are likely to have taken place beforehand.
Broadcasters are allowed to report on the more procedural aspects of the day – and party leaders and politicians are often filmed going to vote at their polling station.
Here is what is happening on each TV channel.
BBC One
Beginning at 9.55pm, the BBC’s election night coverage will be led by Clive Myrie and Laura Kuenessberg, while the pair will be assisted by the corporation’s political editor, Chris Mason.
They will be assisted by Reeta Chakrabarti, who will be analysing the results as they come in, and Jeremy Vine, who will be broadcasting from Cardiff with the swingometer.
Kirsty Wark and Andrea Catherwood will broadcast from Glasgow and Belfast respectively.
Myrie and Kuenessberg will replace Huw Edwards, who left the broadcaster earlier this year following allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.
Professor Sir John Curtice will also be offering knowledge and insight throughout the evening.
Fiona Bruce, Victoria Derbyshire, Naga Munchetty, Nick Watt, and Alex Forsyth will be among the reporters based around the country.
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On Friday morning, Sophie Raworth and Jon Kay will take over presenting duties, with deputy political editor Vicki Young alongside them.
Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will also have their own dedicated results programmes, hosted by Martin Geissler, Mark Carruthers, and Nick Servini.
Radio coverage will be handled by Nick Robinson and Rachel Burden, alongside Henry Zeffman on BBC Radio 4 and 5 Live.
ITV
ITV’s election coverage will be anchored by Tom Bradby and he will be joined by former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, and former Labour minister Ed Balls.
The broadcaster’s coverage will begin slightly earlier than the BBC at 9.50pm.
Robert Peston, Anushka Asthana and Paul Brand will be providing insight, along with election analysts Professor Jane Green and Professor Colin Rallings.
On Friday morning, coverage will be picked up by the Good Morning Britain team of Susanna Reid and Balls, with Balls leaving the overnight coverage to present the morning show.
They will be joined by journalist Andrew Pierce, Mirror editor Kevin Maguire, Boris Johnson’s former communications chief Guto Harri, former Labour MP Harriet Harman, former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, and newly enobled Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika.
From 9.25am, ITV news coverage of the election will continue with Julie Etchingham presenting.
Sky News
Sky News coverage will begin at 9pm, and be led by Kay Burley, in the studio normally used for the broadcaster’s Monday Night Football programme.
It will be Burley’s 12th general election, and she will be joined by political editor Beth Rigby, Sunday breakfast show presenter Sir Trevor Phillips, and data and economics editor Ed Conway.
Punditry will come from Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, and former Scottish Conservative leader Baroness Ruth Davidson.
Elections analyst Professor Michael Thrasher will be on hand to offer statistical analysis of the election for Sky News, as he has at every election since 1989.
From 7am the morning after, lead politics presenter Sophy Ridge, host of Sky’s Politics Hub, will be live from Westminster with continued coverage.
She will be joined by deputy political editor Sam Coates and Sky News contributor Adam Boulton.
Channel 4
At 9.45pm, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Emily Maitlis will head up Channel 4’s coverage, where they will be joined by The Rest Is Politics podcast hosts Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart.
Cathy Newman will be presenting from the Conservative and Labour campaign headquarters, while Clare Balding, who was due to break down the data as it comes in, has pulled out of the coverage due to Wimbledon.
C4 News political editor Gary Gibbon will be providing analysis for the channel, which will also have a team of reporters at counts across the country.
The channel has also commissioned a series of inserts from Gogglebox stars, reacting to the results as they come in.
GB News
Camilla Tominey and Stephen Dixon will host GB News’s live studio results coverage, which will begin at 9.55pm.
GB News studio guests will include Kwasi Kwarteng, Sir Brandon Lewis, Luciana Berger, James Heappey, Margaret Hodge, Sir Graham Brady, Geoff Hoon, Alastair Stewart, Arlene Foster and George Eustice.
While Patrick Christys and Michelle Dewberry will host a GB News Election Night Watch Party from a club in Essex.
Analysis will be provided by the channel’s political editor, Christopher Hope, and former Labour MP Gloria De Piero, while the channel will also have a team of reporters based across the country.
Friday coverage will be handled by Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster from 6am, with Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce continuing the analysis from 9.30am.