Conservatives lose all but one seat on Teesside
Anna Turley won back Redcar for Labour
- Published
The Conservatives lost all but one of their seats across the Tees Valley in a successful night for Labour.
Labour's Anna Turley reclaimed the Redcar seat she lost in 2019 while Luke Myer took Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland by just 214 votes.
Matt Vickers was the only Conservative to hold his seat as he won Stockton West by 2,000 votes over Labour's Joe Dancey.
Other seats the Conservatives lost to Labour included Hartlepool, Bishop Auckland, Darlington and the newly created Newton Aycliffe & Spennymoor which includes Tony Blair's old Sedgefield constituency.
Lola McEvoy is the newly elected MP for Darlington
Ms Turley said it had been a "fantastic" general election for Labour which was a "real testament" to Sir Keir Starmer and his team.
"That means we can really start to change the country, get the NHS back on its feet and look after people again," she told the BBC, adding: "I'm really excited about having a Labour government."
In Hartlepool, Jonathan Brash secured 46% to win the seat back for Labour from Conservative Jill Mortimer, who had been MP since a by-election in 2021.
Reform came second in Hartlepool, Newton Aycliffe & Spennymoor, Middlesbrough and Thornaby East and Stockton North.
Labour's Luke Myer took Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland from the Conservatives with 16,468 votes, ahead of incumbent Sir Simon Clarke's 16,254.
Sir Simon told BBC Tees that he wished Mr Myer well and said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic coupled with mistakes made by the Conservative Party had contributed to a "perfect storm" that resulted in the party losing seats across the country.
He highlighted the party's "legacy on Teesside" as evidence that the Tories "did not get everything wrong" and said the Conservatives are unlikely to win back power unless they can credibly address issues connected with immigration.
Luke Myer won Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland
Andy McDonald retained Middlesbrough and Thornaby East for Labour, while Chris McDonald won Stockton North.
Lola McEvoy won Darlington from Conservative Peter Gibson, with the Tories also losing Bishop Auckland to Labour's Sam Rushworth and Newton Aycliffe & Spennymoor to Alan Strickland.
Ms McEvoy pledged a "happier, brighter future" for the town, adding: "We've taken a step to a proud, green industrial future."
Mr Gibson said it had been the "privilege of my life to represent the town" and he believed the Conservatives had left a positive lasting change on the area.
Analysis: Labour surpass expectations
By David MacMillan, BBC Radio Tees political reporter
Strangely, not long after the exit poll, it wasn’t looking that brilliant for Labour in the BBC Radio Tees area.
A relatively slender win by just 2,300 votes in Darlington raised questions about whether it could secure a big enough swing to reclaim many of the seats it lost to the Conservatives in 2019.
And a shock exit poll prediction emerged saying Reform was a stick on to beat Labour and win in Hartlepool.
But it turned out very differently.
Reform didn’t pick up a shock win in Hartlepool – Labour’s Jonathan Brash came home with a majority of 7,698.
From then there were a series of emotional wins – reclaiming Bishop Auckland, Mo Mowlam's former seat Redcar, and Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor, the redrawn constituency that used to be Sedgefield and used to belong to Tony Blair.
Perhaps the biggest victory of all came in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland – Luke Myer ousting former Conservative cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke by just 214 votes.
There was one bright spark for the Conservatives on Teesside – Matt Vickers was returned as an MP, this time with a narrow win in the new constituency of Stockton West.
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