Andy McDonald wins in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East.
Andy McDonald said it remains “the honour of his life” to represent his home town as he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East.
Public services had been “crushed” under the Conservatives, he said, with voters in the country deciding “to turn a page on the Conservative misrule”. Following his victory speech in a huge night for his party, the Labour MP was asked about his priorities for the start of his next term.
He said he wanted to see the “restoration” of public services and the New Deal for Working People brought in within the first 100 days. “Politics can transform lives and life chances,” he said. “Labour has done it before and will do it again.”
He also repeated calls for a National Audit Office review into the Teesworks development in Redcar, as well as the implementation of the 28 recommendations of the Tees Valley review. “Governance and transparency have been absent and we can’t behave in a cavalier fashion with taxpayers’ money,” he said.
The results were announced just after 2.30am on Friday. A total of 34,999 ballots were cast from an electorate of 75,123, representing a turnout of 45.9 per cent with Mr McDonald taking with a majority of 9,192.
The Acklam-born politician was first elected as the Labour MP for Middlesbrough in a by-election held in 2012 following the death of Sir Stuart Bell. The Middlesbrough and East Thornaby seat is the successor to the Middlesbrough constituency, and includes the Stockton wards of Mandale and Victoria and Stainsby Hill.
“It remains the honour of my life to represent my home town of Middlesbrough in Parliament and it is now an an additional honour and a privilege to represent residents in Thornaby East,” said Mr McDonald.
Vote numbers and percentages
Andy McDonald (Lab) 16,238 (47.19%)
Patrick Seargeant (Reform) 7,046 (20.48%)
Kiran Fothergill (Cons) 6,174 (17.94%)
Mehmoona Ameen (WPB) 2,007 (5.83%)
Matthew Harris (Green) 1,522 (4.42%)
Mo Waqas (Lib Dem) 1,037 (3.01%)
Mark Baxtrem (Ind) 383 (1.11%)
Electorate 75,123; Turnout 34,407 (45.8%)