Labour hold Jack Dromey’s Birmingham Erdington seat
Paulette Hamilton has won the Birmingham Erdington by-election, results confirm.
Labour held the seat with 9,413 votes compared to Conservative rival Robert Alden’s 6,147 – a 3,266 majority
Both Labour and Conservative teams had campaigned until the final hours of the contest in a bid to boost their turnout, on a day where poor weather seemed to have discouraged casual voters from the polling station.
Around midnight, the returning officer confirmed a meagre 27 per cent turnout from constituents – meaning out of an electorate of 62,996, only 17,016 voted.
The by-election had been triggered by the sudden death of Labour Party and trade unionist Jack Dromey, who had held the seat with a majority of 3,601 in the 2019 general election.
Dromey was married to veteran Labour MP and interim party leader, Harriet Harman.
The lifelong trade unionist served as Deputy General Secretary of Unite from 2003 to 2010, before representing Birmingham Erdington as member of Parliament since 2010.
Speaking to Sky News before results rolled in, Tory MP Gary Sambrook who had worked as campaign manager in Birmingham Erdington seemed to have accepted an early defeat.
“We haven’t won this since since before my grandparents were born,” he said. “Governing parties don’t tend to win by-elections.”
Sambrook said “Labour should be stacking up the majority here,” taking a jibe at the Labour leader: “we’ll see tonight whether Keir Starmer’s up to the job of actually forming that government, or whether they’ll have to rely on the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Nationalists”.
The seat has been held by Labour since it was created in 1974.
During the 2016 Brexit referendum, the seat voted Leave by the largest margin out of all 10 constituencies in the Birmingham area – voting 63 per cent to leave the European Union.
Winning the seat is Paulette Hamilton, 59, a former nurse and mother-of-five, who currently sits as cabinet member for health and social care on Birmingham city council.
Hamilton fought off opposition from Tory candidate Robert Alden, a fellow councillor who has battled for the seat in the past four general elections.
A total 12 candidates fought the election, including Dave Nellist, who served as the Member of Parliament for Coventry South from 1983 to 1992.
Elected as a Labour MP, he was expelled in 1991 for his support for the Militant tendency – a Trotskyist faction in the party. He currently serves as National Chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
The Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Reform Party – formerly Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – also stood in the by-election.
A Labour party spokesperson said. “we’re delighted that this campaign has seen the first black MP elected from a Birmingham constituency.
“Increasing our vote share is a huge achievement and shows that with Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour is regaining the trust of voters in our traditional ‘red wall’ seats in the Midlands after the disastrous results of the 2019 general election.
“Even in a traditionally low turnout seat with a well-known Tory candidate, we’ve seen a swing to Labour with voters backing Keir Starmer’s contract for the British people based on security, prosperity and respect for all.”
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