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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