Sunderland Labour members react to 'sensational' General Election win for party

Labour secured a landslide with Sir Keir Starmer’s party on course to enjoy a majority of almost 90 seats and the Tories reduced to barely 120 after what appeared to be a surge of tactical voting which handed the Lib Dems their best result in more than a century.

Sunderland Labour Group leader Cllr Michael Mordey was at the count at the Silksworth Tennis Centre to see Lewis Atkinson elected as the new MP for Sunderland Central, following the retirement of Julie Elliott.

”A Labour Government with a strong mandate is the best possible outcome for this country,” said Cllr Mordey.

“The public have spoken emphatically - and today, we will have a Labour Government that will govern competently and with integrity.

“I could not be happier.

“Fourteen years of Tory rule has crippled our public services and our communities are far poorer as a result of their devastating cuts, which have only served to make the rich richer.

“I look forward to working closely with my colleagues in the party locally and nationally to ensure that we are able to make the case for what this city needs.”

Sunderland Lib Dem leader Cllr Paul Edgworth was unsuccessful in his attempt to unseat Houghton and Sunderland South’s Bridget Phillipson but was still celebrating a remarkable night which saw his party win its highest number of seats in more than a century: "This has been a sensational election for the Liberal Democrats,” he said.

“We are back as the third party in British politics after our best ever set of election results.

“We know from Sunderland Council that having a big Labour majority can lead to complacency and bad decision making, so Liberal Democrats will be a common-sense opposition voice in Parliament holding this Labour government to account and pushing them to deliver for local people on our priorities - the NHS, social care, ending the sewage dumping scandal and bringing back proper community policing.

“We know that locally on Sunderland Council it is a Labour vs Lib Dem contest - we'll be building on last night's results so that next time we can challenge the city's Labour MPs at the next General Election as well as taking on Labour at the next local elections in 2026."

Sunderland Tory leader Cllr Antony Mullen said the voters had taken their ‘revenge’ on the party, and one former PM in particular: “It has been a revenge election - the public has had its say on Liz Truss and all the people who served in her cabinet,” he said.

But the Tories had not been the only ones to fall foul of the voters, with Labour’s stance on Gaza costing it support in some seats and the SNP taking a battering in Scotland.

Labour winning a huge majority on the back of fewer votes than it has amassed in the 2017 and 2019 elections also showed that voters were disillusioned ‘with politics and politicians’, said Cllr Mullen: “I think the whole theme of the night has been revenge.”