Labour stuns Tories with key wins across NW

Labour made key gains in the North West general election battleground as Theresa May’s Conservatives looked odds on to fail to reach their target of 326 seats for an overall majority in the House of Commons.

Such a scenario seemed impossible at the launch of the campaign several weeks ago when the Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party lagged behind by 20 points-plus in the opinion polls.

In reality, Corbyn’s campaign confounded expectations while Prime Minister May’s was receiving widespread condemnation this morning.

The Prime Minister’s U-turn on social care, and the so-called dementia tax were cited by Labour MP Ivan Lewis, who held on to Bury South in Greater Manchester.

He also said young people “voted in record numbers” to deliver a major boost for Labour.
“Older people who fear the dementia ta and winter fuel allowances being taken away from them have said ‘no we’re not going to let that happen’,” he said.

Instead of Corbyn’s leadership coming under fire, senior Toriy figure Anna Soubry was already advising  Prime Minister May to “consider her position”. Reports from Downing Street this morning said May had no intention of resigning.

In the North West, Labour now has 54 MPs with five gains in the general election. The Conservatives have 17 after losing four MPs and gaining one seat from the Liberal Democrats, who now have only one representative in the region.

Although the Conservatives MP Chris Green held on to the key marginal Bolton West, increasing his majority from 801 votes to 936,  and they gained Southport from the Liberal Democrats, it was a bid night otherwise for the Tories.

However, James Frith gained the famed election barometer seat Bury North from the Conservatives. Ever since 1983, the constituency has returned an MP for the party which has gone on to govern.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Faisal Rashid gained Warrington South from the Tories. “I’m over the moon – we used to have this seat for 18 years and we have won it back,” he said. Helen Jones also held on for Labour in Warrington North.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron narrowly kept his seat by 777 votes after a recount in his Westmorland & Lonsdale seat in Cumbria. His majority was cut by 8,172 by Conservative James Airey.

The Conservative Party retained Copeland, Carlisle and Penrith & The Border while Labour held Workington and Barrow & Furness.

Trudy Harrison, who won Copeland in a by-election earlier this year, secured 21,062 votes.
Labour’s Sue Hayman secured 21,317 votes in the Workington seat while Conservative John Stevenson got 21,472 in Carlisle.

John Woodcock retained Barrow & Furness having secured 209 more votes than second placed Simon Fell of the Conservatives.

Reacting to the General Election results so far declared and the prospect of a hung Parliament Chris Fletcher, marketing and policy director at Greater Manchester Chamber said: “From any perspective the prospect of a hung parliament is the worst case scenario.

“For business at a time of existing huge uncertainty around Brexit – the reason the Prime Minister went to the polls in the first place,  all it seems this election has done is make the overall picture even less stable.

“The most urgent thing now is for a government to be formed and they must  then quickly buckle down to the task in hand of balancing the needs of a successful Brexit negotiation and ensuring the UK’s economy continues to remain strong and grow.

“Irrespective of whoever forms the next government our Campaign Calls, put together from our members views and input, still stand and we’ll be working to ensure that they remain as key asks for the next Parliament.”

Chris Oglesby, chief executive of Manchester-based commercial property company Bruntwood Group, said:  “The priority is to ensure that we get a stable government in place as quickly as possible.  As a business rooted in our cities we believe that the success of our great metropolitan centres is fundamental to the well-being of the country as a whole.   We will work with the Government along with civic and business leaders locally to achieve this.

“Obviously there’s a lot of talking to be done now in Westminster but one conclusion we can probably draw is that a hard Brexit is now less likely.

“Of the campaign, itself the parties will be taking stock, not least because it’s possible there could be another election this year. It seems there has been a surge of young people voting which is very welcome – engagement is one of the foundations of a successful democracy, and idealism will always be a driver of change.”

Karen Campbell-Williams, head of tax in the North West at business advisors Grant Thornton said: “It’s to fair to say that an inconclusive result is not what the business community wanted but the country has spoken.  Our political leaders now have a lot of talking to do and we hope there is enough common ground to produce a functioning administration.

“Strong government does not need to be defined purely in terms of the size of the majority.  It’s also about the quality of leadership, ideas and ability to address opportunities and challenges.

“This country has been successfully governed by coalitions in the past and we believe that creating and sustaining a vibrant economy starts with making the most of long-standing strengths – around innovation-based businesses, creative industries and advanced manufacturing.”