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Labour hold Tameside despite national collapse

Tameside remains firmly red despite a number of key Labour strongholds being lost in yesterday's [12 December] General Election.

Having seen their party decimated nationally, initial fears were that it could go the same way here, with early indications being that the Stalybridge and Hyde seat was precariously balanced.

However that didn’t come to pass and the majority of Tameside voters selected Angela Rayner, Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Gwynne as their MP’s for the next five years.

In Denton and Reddish, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Andrew Gwynne, was re-elected with just over half (50.1%) of the total vote. It sees him continue to represent his home constituency after 14 years in the job. His nearest challenger was the Conservative’s Iain Bott who scooped 34.1%. After that, Martin Power from the Brexit Party took home 7.9% of the vote, Dominic Hardwick from the Liberal Democrats 4.3%, Gary Lawson of the Greens 2.9% and Farmin’ Lord F’Tang F’Tang Dave representing Monster Raving Loony 0.8%. Andrew Gwynne was downbeat but said the Labour Party will bounce back from this disappointing night. “We’ve got to dust ourselves down and we’ve got to rebuild as a party… and we will, and I’m absolutely certain that at the next election we will have a credible alternative.”

In Ashton-Under-Lyne, Angela Rayner lost almost 5,500 votes from the 2017 general election, but held on with 52.3% of the vote. Dan Costello took home 1,500 more votes for the Conservatives than Tom Dowse did in 2017, but still trailed more than 4,000 behind Angela Rayner with 40.3% of the vote. Brexit candidate Derek Brocklehurst collected 8.8% of the vote, while Liberal Democrat George Rice took 3.9% and Green candidate and Tameside Councillor Lee Alan Huntbach took 3.4%. Speaking just after her re-election, Angela thanked her constituents who had backed her and looked towards the future. “I do not underestimate the responsibility the people of Ashton-Under-Lyne has put back on me and worried about nationally. It looks like the Conservatives are going to get a majority and as I said in my speech 4 million children are in poverty, 135,000 children haven’t got a home and we’ve got austerity and Universal Credit in use in this borough.

“I’ll continue to fight for the people and to reflect upon what’s happened nationally and to make sure I play my part in making sure we get a Labour government again.”

Stalybridge and Hyde was a similar story, with Jonathan Reynolds losing over 5,000 votes compared to 2017. He kept his seat with 44.9% of the vote, compared to 38% for the Conservative’s Tayub Amjad. Julian Newton from the Brexit Party collected 8.5% of the vote, Liberal Democrat Jamie Dwan 4.3%, Green Julie Wood 3.3% and Liberal John Edge 1%. A relieved Jonathan Reynolds said: “It’s a bad night for Labour, there’s no doubt about that… from what the exit poll was indicating. So to buck the trend on a difficult night is very, very special indeed and incredibly humbling.”

Dan Costello, who narrowly lost out in Ashton said he was delighted to be able to dent Labour’s Tameside majority alongside his two colleagues. He said: “We’re really pleased but obviously we didn’t quite take enough off Labour, but this is a reflection of what we heard on the doorstep. People are desperate for change around here and you can see we’ve taken nearly two thirds off the Labour majority in this constituency – it’s something I’m really proud of”

Nationally the Conservatives are expected to have a majority, holding 364 seats in the House of Commons and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that he will not lead the Labour Party in a future election.

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