It was around 5am on Thursday, December 12, 2019. This bleary-eyed correspondent was sat with colleagues in the Liverpool Echo offices after a dramatic and exhausting night. We had watched as Labour's heartlands around the nation had tumbled like dominoes in what could only be described as an unmitigated disaster for the party.

Boris Johnson, a man largely reviled in this part of the world, had gleefully swept up seats in the North East, in Lancashire and around the country as he marched on towards an 80-seat majority. But despite the Conservatives' devastating pummelling of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, there was one corner of the country that failed to be convinced - anything but.

As is so often the case, Merseyside refused to follow the national trends, in fact it largely rejected them outright. In Liverpool, the red rose party increased its vote share - comfortably returning five MPs in the city. In Wirral former swing seats were easily won by Labour as heartlands in Knowsley and Bootle remained strong. The only flash of blue on the Merseyside map was in Southport.

Liverpool and Merseyside are used to thinking differently, of doing things differently when it comes to the mood of the nation. This time around, things are a little different. This time, that sea of red is blemish-free. With the Southport seat going to Labour for the first time in its history, the Tories have been banished from Merseyside completely and it can be fairly stated Labour's surge to power has been built on the seeds of hope that remained in this region when so many other strongholds had fallen