Most students who live in Jesmond are choosing to vote here, in Newcastle East, rather than their home constituency in tomorrow’s general election, our straw polling suggests.

A majority of the 30 students we questioned along Osborne Road, in Exhibition Park and on Newcastle University’s campus stated that it is more convenient to vote in Jesmond rather than travelling home to vote.

However, amongst students who say they are making the journey home to vote, most said it was because they are voting tactically.

Some political parties, including the Liberal Democrats and SNP, proposed an earlier election date of Monday 9 December, concerned that tomorrow’s date would be too close to end-of-term departures and that the student vote would be diminished as a result. However, this plan was rejected in Parliament by 438 votes to just 20.

The end of term for students at Newcastle University is this Friday, 13 December, but Northumbria University students finish for Christmas break a week later on 20 December.

Newcastle East is the constituency that covers Jesmond and it has been a Labour seat since 1964. Newcastle City Council was unable to provide us with details of the number of students registered to vote in Newcastle East.

However, Kate Jackson, a student at Newcastle University who lives in Jesmond during term time, told us: “I’ll be voting in my university constituency. It’s easier for me, otherwise it’s an hour and a half journey to go home, just to vote.

“I did consider doing a proxy vote, to get my mum to do it for me, but it’s just easier for me to go to the polling station in Jesmond myself.”

But another student who lives in Jesmond, Holly Margerrison, said she was returning home to vote tactically. “My home constituency is Conservative, but I’ll be voting Labour. Newcastle is Labour, so my vote counts more if I do it at home.”