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General Election 2024 results: Labour takes Bury North and Bury South

Labour has won both seats in Bury in the 2024 general election.

Christian Wakeford won the seat for Bury South and James Frith won Bury North.

It was a landslide victory for Labour’s Christian Wakeford, Bury South, with 19,247 votes, compared to the Conservatives’ second-placed Arnie Saunders with 9,886.

James Frith in Bury North won 19,625 votes, beating Conservative James Daly (12,681).

On his win Wakeford said: “Whether this is the first time you voted Labour, indeed the second time you voted for me, I will do everything in my power to deliver change.”

In 2019 Christian Wakeford received 22,034 votes – winning the seat as a Conservative – against Labour’s Lucy Burke (21,632).

Wakeford defected to Labour during the Partygate scandal in 2022.

Turnout was 56% for Bury South and 59% for Bury North – down in both from 2019, when 66.64% voted in Bury South and 67.84% in Bury North.

Conservative candidate Arnie Saunders was flabbergasted at the decreased voter turnout.

The Labour gains came in the context of a predicted landslide for Labour – with the exit poll predicting 410 Labour seats to 131 seats for the Conservatives.

During the count MM spoke to Saunders, who said: “Look. I’m realistic, I’m not expecting to win, I’ve not really expected to win for some time.”

Saunders referred to an incident in a mosque where he was allegedly intimidated, but said that overall he had an enjoyable campaign.

He added: “Massive majorities aren’t always good for the leader of the party.

“We will be holding Labour’s feet to the fire, starting from tomorrow.”

Reform UK’s Jeff Armstrong, a Bury South candidate, stated he believed the reason people are turning away from Conservative and voting Reform is because Britain is broken.

Armstrong had earlier predicted: “There’s a strong possibility we will get a good second.”

But ultimately he came in third, receiving 6,865 in Bury South.

The full results are as follows:

Bury South

  • Jeff Armstrong, Reform: 6,865
  • Stephen Morris, English Democrats: 224
  • Andrew Page, Lib Dem: 1,796
  • Dan Ross, Communist Party: 181
  • Arnie Saunders, Conservatives: 9,886
  • Christian Wakeford, Labour: 19,247
  • Michael Welton, Green: 2,715
  • Sameera Ashraf, Workers: 1,023
  • Michael Elston, Independent: 277

Bury North

  • Mark Alcock, Lib Dems: 1,317
  • Shafat Ali, Workers: 1,917
  • James Daly, Conservative: 12,681
  • James Frith, Labour: 19,625
  • Spencer Donnelly, Independent: 277
  • Anwarul Haq, Independent: 571
  • Lynda Rosewell, Reform: 7,385
  • Owain Sutton, Green: 1,747

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