There is no ambiguity about the outcome of last week’s general election. Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has secured 412 of the 650 Parliamentary seats available, giving him a majority of 174. Actually, his majority is more, allowing for speakers and Sinn Fein (who don’t turn up). My party, Conservatives, secured just 221, down from 365 in 2019.
It was a weird election. Overall, Labour support went up just a fraction (from 32.2% in 2019, to 33.6% this year). And considering lower turnout, hardly anyone more voted Labour across the country than they did last time. But the truth is, support for Conservatives collapsed from 43.7% in 2019 to just 23.7% last week. And so it was here in Wyre Forest, where support for Conservatives fell from 65% to 32%. The Labour vote went up a bit, but Reform hoovered up a lot (21%), and other parties and independents the remainder. But what is clear to us all is that the electorate was keen for change.
But voters are not crying out for Labour. If national vote share were applied, rather than our existing first-past-the-post system, Labour would drop from 412 to 220 MPs; Conservatives would have 154, not 121; Lib Dems would be about the same; but Reform would go from 5 to 93, and Greens from 4 to 44. This makes for a lot of lucky Labour MPs, and a lot of disgruntled Green and Reform voters.
For me, irrespective of the numbers, it is a huge, huge privilege to have been re-elected here in Wyre Forest. We’ve achieved a lot here over the last 14 years and I am determined to do more. Of course, I must learn a new skill – being an effective constituency MP in opposition. But I am determined to secure yet more investment into our local community and infrastructure.
Meanwhile, we need to see what Labour’s plans are for our country, with little promised in their manifesto. Next week will be the King’s Speech, when we will learn their plans. We may also have an early budget. Their election campaign was long on identifying problems, surprisingly short on solutions. We need to know how they will tackle the issues they raised, and what the outcome of this will be for us all.
Times are changing, but as I say, it is a huge honour to have been asked by Wyre Forest to be our community’s representative in Parliament.