Labour hold all of Newcastle in tough night for party nationally

The count at Sports Central, Newcastle. Photo: Loujane Alasi

Much of Jesmond remains represented in parliament by Nick Brown after the Labour MP defeated his opponents on a tough night for Labour.

Brown, who has represented the parliamentary seat of Newcastle East, which contains the majority of Jesmond, since 1983, managed to maintain his support in the city. He earned 26,049 votes – down 7% from the 28,127 he won in the 2017 general election.

Brown lost more than 2,000 votes, while the Conservatives gained 1,720 votes compared to 2017 – almost the exact number as voted UKIP in Newcastle East in the last election.

Labour votes appear to have gone to the Liberal Democrats, who improved their standing by nearly four percentage points compared to 2017, and the Green Party, who saw a 3.3 percentage point increase.

Catherine McKinnell, Labour’s Newcastle North MP, retained her seat but her 10,000 majority form 2017 was nearly halved as the Liberal Democrats, Brexit Party and Greens improved their share of the vote in 2019.

Elsewhere in Newcastle, Chi Onwurah became the first MP to return to parliament in the election, winning her seat in Newcastle North with a comfortable 12,278 majority over the Conservative candidate.

“I am obviously absolutely delighted to be re-elected,” Onwurah told JesmondLocal.

Onwurah did admit concern about the wider pattern of results for Labour, who were expected to win just 191 seats nationwide – down 71 from two years ago.

“The exit polls are hugely disappointing both for me as a Labour party member and all the people who have done so much work, but also for the country and our hope and desire for a fairer, more prosperous future,” she added.

The Conservatives made gains across the North East, as well as across the whole country on the night.

Other parties appear to have fallen by the wayside in the election, including the Green Party. “I was feeling very hopeful until the exit poll arrived,” Nick Hartley, Green candidate in Newcastle East, told JesmondLocal.

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