North-West red wall rebuilt, Lib Dems happy and Tories crumble

Tim Roca (centre, with Sir Keir Starmer) became Macclesfield's first ever Labour MP

The political map of North West England is looking very different.

In parts of Greater Manchester and Lancashire, the red wall has been rebuilt and Conservative strongholds have crumbled.

Labour has swept the board, the Tories have held just three seats. Let that sink in.

Could even the most optimistic Labour supporter have foreseen that back in 2019?

The polls had predicted a bad night for the Conservatives in the North West.

And it was.

The facts are these: for the first time in living memory, Cumbria has no Tory MPs.

Neither does Merseyside.

There are just three Conservatives left.

Esther McVey was one of only three Tories to win, holding her seat in Tatton

Labour reclaimed all but one of their target seats.

Leigh and Atherton was their number one target in the whole country.

They also claimed Hyndburn, Blackpool North, South Ribble, Rossendale and Darwen, Bury North, Bolton West, Bolton North East and Southport, to name a few.

But there was one fly in the ointment.

Kate Hollern lost in Blackburn to independent Adnan Hussain, who was standing on a pro-Palestine ticket.

Tom Morrison (above right, with Ed Davey) won one of the Lib Dems' three seats

The Conservatives saw huge majorities overturned overnight.

The safe seat of Macclesfield, which has had a Conservative MP for more than a century, went red.

As did Congleton, a Tory stronghold since 1983.

And Nigel Evans, the Conservative MP for Ribble Valley for 32 years, saw his majority of more than 18,000 turn into a 850-vote defeat.

The party now has three MPs in the region, in Chester South and Eddisbury, Tatton and Fylde.

The Liberal Democrats also have three seats, but they will be happy.

They gained their two target constituencies, in Hazel Grove and Cheadle, and former leader Tim Farron won the redrawn constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale in Cumbria.

Reform UK did not win any seats, but their presence had a huge impact on voting

Behind the headlines were some interesting stats.

Labour received 44.8% share of the vote in the North West, a number considerably higher than their national share of 33.9%.

The Conservatives got 18.8%, lower than their own national figure of 23.7%.

But Reform UK received a 16.6% share and did not win a seat.

That said, their influence on the results in the North West cannot be underestimated.

They came second and third in many of the contests, splitting the Conservative vote and in effect handing Labour victories.

The Liberal Democrats' share was much lower, standing at 7.8%, but it won them three seats.

The party has long campaigned for a change to the electoral system, calling for proportional representation.

Last night though, first past the post worked in their favour.

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