6 ways Black Country and Shropshire seats will shape the outcome of the General Election

The pollsters had Theresa May on course for landslide in 2017.

And David Dimbleby famously said Margaret Thatcher was at risk of losing her majority in 1987.

So I'll make just two predictions regarding the seats in the West Midlands in the General Election 2024.

Labour's Warrinder Juss will comfortably take Wolverhampton West from the Conservatives, and Mark Pritchard will be re-elected in The Wrekin.

Ok, not exactly putting my neck on the line here, am I? When Mike Newton was selected as the Conservative candidate for Wolverhampton West, he joked that he might have picked a longer straw.

The area – which for many decades was a Conservative stronghold under Enoch Powell and Nick Budgen – is No. 5 on Labour's target list, with a notional majority of just 934 for the Conservatives.

A swing of just 0.92 per cent is needed for Mr Juss to take the seat, and if Mr Newton is successful in defying the odds, he will likely have helped secure Rishi Sunak another five years in No. 10.

Similarly, it would take a brave individual to bet against Mark Pritchard against holding his seat in The Wrekin.

Again, historically it has swung between Labour and the Conservatives, and was indeed held by Labour for 18 years under Bruce Grocott and then Peter Bradley, but since his first election in 2005, Mr Pritchard has steadily increased his majority.