London and Westminster

‘Two Cities' turns red for first time in history

'It's five o'clock in the morning and you're asking me that?!'

Friday, 5th July — By Tom Foot

Rachel Blake at 5am 

LABOUR’S Rachel Blake was elected Labour MP for Cities of London and Westminster turning the constituency red for the first time in its history.

The result around 5am at the Lindsey Hall, a short walk from the Houses of Parliament, as Sir Keir Starmer’s landslide general election victory brought the curtain down on 14 years of Conservative rule.

Ms Blake polled 15,302 to the Tory candidate Tim Barnes’ 12,594, with a 39 percent share of the vote.

In her speech, she said: “Elections are a time for people to make a choice. A decision has been made. It’s time to move forward. We have endured 14 years of Conservative led government. They have presided over chaos.”

She later told the Extra that she was determined to make housing and homeless at the top of her agenda as her first order of business, adding: “Getting Britain building again is something that is so important.”

Asked about different models of social housing, she said: “It’s 5 o clock in the morning and you’re asking me that.”

“No but I think we need to get developers to build more when they are building. Getting more out of Section 106 is something Labour is already talking about.”

“It’s an amazing feeling, right now I feel pretty weird.”

The “Two Cities” constituency boasts some of wealthiest residential areas of London including Mayfair, Belgravia, Marylebone and the City itself – and has always been considered a Conservative fortress.

It was last held by the former Westminster Council leader Nickie Aiken, who chose not to stand again after one term in office.

Mr Barnes, who stood for the Conservatives against Keir Starmer in Holborn and St Pancras in 2017, told Extra the results across the country showed Reform had not materialised as a significant political force, and the relatively small majority held by Ms Blake showed the constituency would be up for grabs next time round in “a two horse race”.

He criticised former Home Secretary Suella Braverman for using her acceptance speech to suggest her own credentials as a new leader of the Conservative Party, on what he described overall as a “terrible night”.

In the north of the borough, Georgia Gould won the redrawn Queen’s Park and Maida Vale constituency with 20,196 votes – more than 15000 votes ahead of her closest rivals.

The Green Vivien Lichtenstein came in second place with Samia Hersi the Conservative in third.

Ms Gould had been selected as the candidate to replace Karen Buck with the veteran MP standing down after 27 years representing the constituency, formerly Westminster North.

After the result was announced, Ms Gould told Extra the “fundamental challenge” for her MP would also be tackling housing and homelessness.

The constituency was called just before 6am in a long night for all concerned at the Westminster count.

Georgia Gould at 6am

Officials who appeared baffled by the delay in results as everyone else has suggested cause could be connected to serious road traffic accident in Park Lane, Mayfair – and a concert in Hyde Park – although there was no real evidence of this.

In 2019, Ms Buck held her constituency with a substantial majority in the Boris Johnson landslide in 2019 with a majority of 10,759.

Lab – Rachel Blake – 15,302.

Con – Tim Barnes – 12,594.

Lib – Dem Ed Lucas – 4,335.

Green – Rajiv Sinha – 2,844.

Reform – Tarun Ghulati – 2752.

LABOUR DEFIES EXIT POLL IN TEESSIDE GENERAL ELECTION FIGHTBACK

Reform UK were projected to win Hartlepool at 10pm - but that did not play out

July 05 2024, 07.05am
By Jamie Lopez

Labour fought back in the so-called Red Wall of Northern seats during a night of huge electoral success.

As the party romped home to a landslide win across the country, it won back four Teesside seats which it had lost since 2017. In the end, the Conservatives finished with just one North East MP as deputy party chairman Matt Vickers won in the newly formed Stockton West.

Another senior Tory endured an extremely narrow defeat, becoming one of several high profile defeats across the party. Sir Simon Clarke, a former Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, lost his Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland to Labour’s Luke Myer by just 214 votes.

In Hartlepool, the 10pm exit poll pointed towards a likely Reform win but the reality proved different. Instead, Labour won the seat with a margin greater than 8,000.

Anna Turley, one of the 2019 casualties, won back the Redcar seat. Interestingly, she won just a few hundred votes more than at the last General Election as the Conservative vote dropped by 6,000.

The other Labour gain in the region was Darlington, where Lola McEvoy defeated 2019 intake Peter Gibson.

Meanwhile, in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East - formerly Middlesbrough - Andy McDonald retained the MP role he has held since 2012. Stockton North was another comfortable win for the party as Chris McDonald won an 8,000 majority and Reform pushed the Conservatives into third place.

Across the country, Labour won a historic landslide that saw a generational change in The Houses of Parliament. Keir Starmer will now become the Prime Minister.

Labour turned around its disastrous 2019 results to win back hundreds of lost seats - though it was not without losing defeats, such as Blackburn and Islington North, to independent candidates. However, it was also a good night for The Liberal Democrats, The Green Party and Reform UK, who all made gains.

 The Teesside Lead 

Shock election results as Leicestershire wakes up to five new MPs

One result had the people watching on gasping out loud


NEWS
By Tess Rushin
Julia Breens

Local Democracy Reporter
Hannah Richardson
Lee Garrett

 5 JUL 2024

Leicester's three seats undergoing their counts (Image: Hannah Richardson/Leicestershire Live)

The 2024 General Election was expected to be “historic”, but nobody could have predicted the shock results seen here in the city and county. As the country wakes up to a new Labour Government, Leicester and Leicestershire will be waking up today with five new MPs – and not in the seats we were expecting.

The Labour Party crossed the threshold it needed for a majority a little before 5am. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded the election and Sir Keir Starmer claimed victory – a result every poll had predicted.

However, locally things did not follow the expected pattern. The biggest local surprise of the night was the defeat of Jonathon Ashworth in Leicester South. Predicted to be a safe Labour win, there were gasps from both the count floor and the press gallery when the results were announced and independent candidate Shockat Adam declared the winner to the shock of everyone present – including himself.

READ MORE:Live Leicestershire General Election results as Labour declares victory

He told LeicestershireLive he was feeling “absolutely overwhelmed, humbled and excited”. He said residents have raised concerns around housing, the cost-of-living crisis, mental health services and youth services with him and addressing those will that he will be “cracking on with” first. When asked by LeicestershireLive if he was expecting to win tonight, he simply said “no”.

Shockat Adam (Image: Shockat Adam)

Another surprise was the Conservative Party bucking national trends in Leicester East with their candidate Shivani Raja storming to victory to chants of “we did it, we did it” and loud cheers. She beat out two former holders of the seat – incumbent Claudia Webbe and Keith Vaz.


She told LeicestershireLive she was “really thrilled with the results” and it was “time for a change” in Leicester East. Things were more sedate in Leicester West where Liz Kendall secured a comfortable win.

Shivani Raja (Image: Leicester Conservatives)

Out in the county, we also have new MPs. North West Leicestershire narrowly avoided a recount as Labour claimed its first MP in 14 years. 

Amanda Hack becomes the constituency's first female MP.

Ms Hack narrowly won with a majority of 1,012 votes. She had gone into the vote feeling she could claim victory and was proven right to loud cheers from her Labour colleagues. Her narrow win saw the Conservatives Craig Smith finish in second, with the pair shaking hands after the result was announced.

The night was one to forget for the now former MP Andrew Bridgen. He finished second to last in the vote, taking in just 1,568 votes. He did not attend the read through of the results.

Amanda Hack is now the MP for North West Leicestershire (Image: Lee Garrett.Leicestershire Live)

In Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, Neil O’Brien defied expectations that he might narrowly lose his seat, securing another five-year term. Mr O’Brien said he was “incredibly relieved and incredibly honoured to be back again”.

He told LeicestershireLive: "I'm feeling incredibly relieved and incredibly honoured to be back again re-elected as the MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston and incredibly touched that people have put their faith in me again even on a bad night for us nationally. Clearly, there's massive lessons for us to learn, I'm going to ensure that they are learned.

“I've heard the message loud and clear but I'm really grateful to have been re-elected and tomorrow we carry on with the work and we get cracking again."

Conservative candidate Neil O'Brien

Loughborough also saw a new MP elected in Labour’s Jeevun Sandher, but that result had long been predicted. Loughborough is traditionally regarded as an election bellwether, having reflected the national result in every year since February 1974. He beat out incumbent Jane Hunt.

Mr Sandher said the result 'feels great', adding: "We’ve now crossed the threshold into government. There's a huge amount we have to do at this difficult time."

He added: "In 2019 [we had] our worst defeat in a century, and now the point where we can help change people’s lives."

Mrs Hunt said she was sad at the result, and that she had 'absolutely loved being the member of parliament for Loughborough'. She added that the national result was 'very difficult' because 'a fantastic amount of experience is going out the door tonight'.

Jeevun Sandher – Labour Party

The new constituency of Mid Leicestershire was won by Conservative Peter Bedford, who was initially expected to triumph although a later poll showed Labour's Robert Martin in the lead.

Mr Bedford said he was feeling very tired, but very happy. "It was a very long day, a very long campaign. I was selected ten months ago so I've been knocking on doors for a very long time." He added that he was "humbled that people in Mid Leicestershire have put their trust in [him] as their first MP".

But he admitted it was a difficult night for the Conservative Party nationally, saying: "Being in office for 14 years has taken its toll in terms of members of the public, and we will now have to look at regrouping."

The seat comprises most of the former Charnwood constituency, as well as parts of South Leicestershire and the former Bosworth (now Hinckley and Bosworth) seats.

Peter Bedford (Image: Julia Breens/Leicestershire Live)

Dr Luke Evans secured a comfortable victory in the newly named Hinckley and Bosworth seat to claim his second term as the constituency’s MP. Ed Argar will also be back after winning in the rejigged Melton and Syston seat. Alberto Costa will return in South Leicestershire.