Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Labour win Oldham East despite surge in support for Reform UK

The Labour candidate won the vote with more than 14,000 votes

Labour win Oldham East despite surge in support for Reform UK

DEBBIE ABRAHAMS gave a jubilant laugh when asked how she felt about keeping her seat in Oldham East and Saddleworth.

The Labour candidate won the vote with more than 14,000 votes – almost double as many as her nearest competition.


The result is a very different picture to the 2019 election, where the incumbent MP scraped a narrow majority of just 1,500 votes against her Conservative competition.

But with Tories knocked out of the race in constituencies all across the country, Abrahams said she was ready to ‘restore people’s trust in politics’ whether they voted for her or not.

Abrahams said: “I’m delighted. It was a fantastic result.

“For those who didn’t vote for me – I want to represent them too. I want to restore their trust in politics.

“There will be a policy program that the Labour government will be introducing. I just want to make sure that we get our fair share. That hasn’t happened in the past. We know that Oldham has been disproportionately disinvested.”

Though the win adds to the red map, Labour’s campaign in Oldham East was beset by challenges from across the political spectrum this election, with rising support for Reform UK and Workers Party candidate Shanaz Saddique.

Reform UK candidate Jacob Barden, who wasn’t present at the count, came second with 7,734 votes.

Responding to the surge in support for the right-wing populist party led by Nigel Farage, Abrahams said she thought politics was ‘in a difficult place at the moment’ with a lot of ‘dissatisfaction’ and ‘division’. The suggested this would be something she would work on as MP.

Reform’s performance knocked the Conservatives into third place in Oldham East. Candidate Tom Fish, who received around 6,800 votes, said he was still positive about the result.

“Obviously the national picture isn’t great and somewhat predictable so I can’t pretend that’s something I’ve just found out and I’m very surprised,” he said. “But I’m in a good mood because I’m very happy with what we’ve done here. We have run such a positive campaign.”

The impact of anti-Labour campaigns in relation to the Gaza conflict was also noticeable. Shanaz Saddique from George Galloway’s Workers Party received more than 4,600 of the votes.

Saddique was “disappointed” after being sure she would win earlier in the evening and seeing Galloway lose his seat in neighbouring Rochdale.

She claimed a delivery failure of her leaflets was the cause but was sure the party would move ‘from strength to strength’ in future.

Saddique said: “If you look at what [Labour] got in the last election compared to now – they’ve lost thousands of votes – that’s thousands of people’s trust. It will take a big effort for them to bring that back.”

Liberal Democrat Sam Al-Hamdani received 3,386 votes while the Greens received 1,490.

The Greens’ candidate Fesl Reza-Khan said he was “surprised” by the number of votes he received, suggesting it was largely down to young people.

He told the LDRS: “There’s a big age divide [around climate consciousness] in Oldham and we had a lot of people coming up to us saying they don’t have any hope left in the other parties.

“This is just the beginning for us.”

Independents Paul Boots Errock and Nick Buckley received 1,362 and 517 respectively.

The overall turnout was 55pc, down by almost ten pc compared to the 2019 election.

(Local Democracy Reporting Service)

More For You

british-muslims-iStock

The study noted that this identification was not due to any doctrinal obligation but was influenced by the perception that many Muslims do not feel fully accepted as British. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Majority of British Muslims identify by faith first, study finds

A STUDY by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL) has found that most British Muslims identify primarily with their religion rather than their nationality.

The research, based on a survey of 815 British Muslim adults by Whitestone Insight, revealed that 71 per cent of respondents identified as Muslim first, while 27 per cent identified as British, English, or Scottish first.

Keep ReadingShow less
Car Tax Changes: EV Owners Now Required to Pay for the First Time

Owners of electric vehicles registered on or after 1 April 2025 will pay £10 for the first year, followed by the standard VED rate of £195 from the second year. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Car tax changes take effect: EV owners to pay for first time

FROM today, 1 April 2025, electric cars, vans, and motorcycles in the UK will be subject to Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the first time.

The change, introduced in the 2022 Autumn Statement by former Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, aims to make motoring taxation fairer.

Keep ReadingShow less
scotland-minimum-wages-iStock

Full-time workers on the National Living Wage will receive an annual pay increase of £1,400 in real terms. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Wage increase takes effect for thousands of workers in Scotland

HUNDREDS of thousands of workers in Scotland will see a pay increase as new National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates take effect from Tuesday.

The changes will benefit approximately 220,000 people, according to STV News.

Keep ReadingShow less
uk-energy-bill-iStock

Water bills, energy prices, and council tax are rising, while the minimum wage has also increased (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

April bill increases put financial strain on single parents

A RANGE of essential household bills are increasing from April, with Citizens Advice warning that single parents will be among the hardest hit.

Water bills, energy prices, and council tax are rising, while the minimum wage has also increased, BBC reported.

Keep ReadingShow less
Netflix drama Adolescence to be screened in UK schools
Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper in 'Adolescence'
Netflix

Netflix drama Adolescence to be screened in UK schools

THE NETFLIX drama Adolescence will be shown in UK secondary schools as part of efforts to address harmful online influences on young boys, officials announced on Monday.

The show has sparked debate over the impact of toxic and misogynistic content on the internet. Prime minister Keir Starmer met the show's creators, charities, and young people at Downing Street, calling the initiative an important step in starting discussions about the content teenagers are exposed to online.

Keep ReadingShow less