Sunak stays as MP as Labour make county gains
The Harrogate and Knaresborough seat was one of the Liberal Democrat's top targets
- Published
Rishi Sunak has held onto his North Yorkshire seat, avoiding becoming the first sitting prime minister to lose his place in Parliament.
While he was again voted in as Conservative MP for Richmond and Northallerton, he took the blame for the party's poor performance nationally.
Elsewhere, Labour gained two seats from the Tories, including Luke Charters taking over York Outer from Julian Sturdy after 14 years.
The Lib Dems gained their only Yorkshire seat and one of their key targets - with Tom Gordon winning Harrogate and Knaresborough from the Conservatives.
Richmond and Northallerton candidate Count Binface explains his plans for the constituency - and the omniverse. He went on to lose, picking up 308 votes
In York Outer, the newly elected Labour MP polled 23,161 votes compared to Mr Sturdy's 13,770, while Reform UK's John Crispin-Bailey came third with 5,912 votes.
Mr Sturdy said his party’s defeat was the result of a split in the centre-right vote following Reform UK’s gains.
Julian Sturdy said the results locally and nationally showed the winds of change had swept through politics
The outgoing MP said: “The winds of political change have swept through, Keir Starmer will get into Number 10 and the Conservatives have to recognise that.
“It’s important that we now have a strong opposition to take the country forward.”
Declaring his win as a "historic moment for Harrogate and Knaresborough, the country and the Liberal Democrats", Mr Gordon said: "We are back".
"Back in Harrogate and Knaresborough, back in Yorkshire and back right across our country."
He defeated former Conservative MP Andrew Jones by more than 8,000 votes.
Rishi Sunak secured just under 48% of the vote in the Richmond and Northallerton constituency
Elsewhere, Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake kept his seat in Thirsk and Malton, securing 19,544 votes.
Despite a 23% cut in vote share compared to the 2019 general election Mr Hollinrake said he was “fantastically enthusiastic” about being re-elected.
He said, despite the results, there was “still an appetite for Conservatism” and that his party “needs to go away, lick its wounds, decide how we rebuild [with] a new leader and a new offering to the people”.
Meawhile, Labour's Rachael Maskell retained her seat in York Central, picking up 24,537 votes, which equated to more than 56% of all votes cast.
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, external, X (formerly known as Twitter), external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk, external