7 key battlegrounds to watch in General Election from Surrey to Solihull as Cabinet big beast face off in showdown

SEVEN major battleground areas will determine who seizes the keys to Downing Street after polling day.

Rishi Sunak will be desperate to cling on to the Red Wall seats won by Boris Johnson at the 2019 election.

The victories in places such as Blythe Valley, Redcar and Bishop Auckland were vital to the Tories 80-seat stonking majority.

Sir Keir Starmer will be targeting voters who decided to lend their votes to the Tories for the last election.

Many voters across the vast swathe of seats refused to back ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and also wanted to “Get Brexit Done”.

There is also a battle on for voters who feel the Tories aren’t tackling issues such as immigration – with the Reform Party aiming to take their votes.

The Conservatives also face trouble in the Blue Wall where they face an onslaught from the Lib Dems and Labour.

Areas that have traditionally always voted Tory in stock-broker areas and commuter towns that have grown disgruntled with the party’s offering.

The Tory brand in the Blue Wall has collapsed as many see the party regaining the image of the “nasty party” and being seen as “uncaring”, according to focus groups.

The More In Common surveys found that when compared to the national average, the Blue Wall voters more likely to think the Tories are more right wing than their personal politics.

The Lib Dems have identified twenty seats that are in their seats such as strongholds such as Michael Gove’s Surrey Heath seat and Jeremy Hunt’s new Godalming and Ash constituency.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps who has a majority of 10.955 in his Welwyn Hatfield seat is also in the sights of Labour.

Top Tories are at risk of being wiped out by a Labour tsunami at the upcoming election.

Conservative big beasts face electoral oblivion with polling putting the party 20 points behind.

Polling over recent months has shown that the party could be left with as little as 100 seats after polling day, a Survation study found in March.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has a wafer-thin majority of 981 in his Cheltenham seat and is especially vulnerable.

One-time leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt who has a 15,780 majority in her Portsmouth North seat is also seen as vulnerable – despite a decent majority.

London will also be seen as a major battleground in the upcoming election – and will be buoyed by the recent London mayoral results.
Labour mayor Sadiq Khan won in London despite controversy over the ULEZ low emission zone expansion and knife crime.

Sir Keir Starmer – himself a London MP – will be keen to dominate central London during the election fight.

But winning in the ‘donut’ – the areas surrounding central London – will be a tougher ask for Labour.

Labour didn’t manage to win the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election last year in the quest for the suburban vote.

But they have their eye on Chipping Barnet where Tory MP Theresa Villiers holds a slim majority of 1,212 votes over Labour.

The implosion of the SNP could help get Labour over the winning line if the campaign is closer than the polls suggest.

Labour has overtaken the Scottish National Party for the first time since the country’s independence referendum ten years ago.

But party sources now say they are looking at winning up to twenty seats could make a huge difference to their majority.

The SNP have been dogged by a police probe into the party’s finance scandal. Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell has been charged in the finance investigation.

Bellwether seats could be the biggest pointer for determining who wins the upcoming election.

Labour have won control in recent council elections in places such as Milton Keynes and Thurrock.

If they pick these places up in a general election Labour will be heading to victory.

But the Tories will have heart that they managed to stave off a resurgent Labour in Harlow which is seen as a key battleground.

The Tories won 17 out of 33 seats up for election. Labour won 16 seats but lost out in the final ward by just 55 votes.

Labour are planning a major assault on the south west of England to help boost their election chances.

One high-profile loser could be Jacob Rees-Mogg who is seen as being vulnerable in his Somerset seat.

The Lib Dems are also looking at taking a swathe of seats across Devon and Cornwall.

Ed Davey’s party will be trying to find every last vote as they hit voters’ concerns over farming subsidies, water quality and also environment rules.