Luton’s two Members of Parliament, Rachel Hopkins and Sarah Owen, have been returned to their seats as part of a landslide victory night for the Labour party as they ousted the Conservatives to take power for the first time since 2010.
The exit poll at 10pm last night had the Labour Party set for 410 seats in the House of Commons, and they won 412, an increase of 211, with leader Kier Starmer set to become the new Prime Minister.
He will replace Rishi Sunak in Number 10 Downing Street, who held his seat but resigned as Conservative leader after the worst general election results in the party’s history.
The Tories were predicted to lose 241 seats at 10pm last night, but the predictions were generous as they lost 250, finishing with 121 seats. That will still be enough to install them as the official opposition, when there had been suggestion in the final weeks of the election campaign that they could be beaten into third place.
With only a small number of seats left to declare, the third largest party in the House of Commons will instead be the Liberal Democrats who were predicted to increase their number of seats by 53 to win 61 overall, but they added ten more, an increase of 63, while Reform UK won their first ever seats, but finishing with four was significantly lower than the 13 that were forecast by the exit polls. Three Green Party also increased their seats from one to four, while there were six independent victories including the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In Luton, considered safe Labour territory, Lutonian Ms Hopkins who had been voted in as the MP for Luton South in 2019, held her seat with her constituency expanded to include south Bedfordshire. With 13,593 votes (49.87 per cent turnout) it was more than double of her nearest challenger, Mark Versallion of the Conservatives, who won 6,735.
Posting on her Twitter page, Ms Hopkins wrote: ‘Thank you to the people of Luton South & South Bedfordshire for re-electing me as your MP. It is a privilege to serve all our communities once again.’
Ms Owen, who also became an MP in 2019, held her Luton North seat with 14,677 votes (51.99 per cent turnout), which was double her nearest rival, Conservative Jilleane Brown, who won 7,167 votes.
On Twitter, she wrote: ‘Thank you for your faith in me to continue representing Luton North. It is my home and I love it. Luton has chosen unity over division. Luton has voted for change. This win is for everyone who wants and needs change for our town & country. From my whole heart, thank you.’
Robin Porter, Returning Officer said: “At both a local and national level, elections are vital to the democratic health of the country. I am deeply impressed by the commitment and dedication of so many people who have worked tirelessly to serve the people of the town.
“For many people today has been a long day, with some staff at the polling stations since 7am or earlier and others assisting at the count from 10pm onwards.
“Acting as Returning Officer for the Luton North and Luton South and South Bedfordshire constituencies I feel rightly proud and grateful to be supported by so many people. Each person has had an important role to play in ensuring another successful day for democracy in Luton.”
The full breakdown of the vote for each constituency can be seen below.
Luton North
Candidates as follows:
- Sarah Owen, Labour Party – 14,677
- Jilleane Brown, Conservative Party – 7,167
- James Aaron Fletcher, Reform UK – 4,666
- Toqueer Shah, Independent – 4,393
- Waheed Akbar, Workers Party – 3,914
- Ejel Khan, Green Party – 1,940
- Sean Prendergast, Liberal Democrats – 1,890
- Paul Trathen, Social Democratic Party – 98
Luton South and South Bedfordshire
Candidates as follows:
- Rachel Hopkins, Labour Party – 13,593
- Mark Anthony Gaius Versallion, Conservative Party – 6,735
- Attiq Ahmed Malik, Independent – 5,384
- Norman Maclean, Reform UK – 4,759
- Yasin Rehman, Workers Party – 3,110
- Edward Carpenter, Green Party – 2,401
- Dominic Griffiths, Liberal Democrats – 2,400
