On a bad night for the party nationally, there was some good news for Labour in Manchester with both Mike Kane and Graham Stringer keeping their seats.
The results of today’s general election for Wythenshawe and Sale East, and for Broughton and Blackley, were announced at the Manchester tennis centre just before 4.30am today.
Labour supporters and candidates remained confident throughout the evening due to Manchester’s unwavering support.
Mr Kane, for Wythenshawe and Sale East, gained 21, 693 votes overall, which was an increase on former Labour representative Paul Goggins who won in 2010 with 17,987 votes.
In his acceptance speech, he said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to be re-elected.
“We will fight day in, day out, to make sure working people across our great city are well represented and have the best we can possibly offer them.”
Conservative candidate Fiona Green harnessed 11,124 votes, UKIP’s Lee Clayton followed with 6,354, leaving Lib Dems to scrape a meagre 1,927 of the total count.
Mr Stringer held his position as Labour MP for Blackley and Broughton constituency with 22,982 of the 37,306 votes cast.
Stringer’s triumph dwarfed the competition where UKIP candidate Martin Power gained 6,108 votes, Conservative Michelle Tanfield-Johnson pulled in 5,581, and Green Party’s David Jones saw a fairly impressive 1,567.
This year’s votes proved a disastrous defeat for the Liberal Democrats as they were decimated by their competitors.
Speaking to MM, Mike Kane said: “It was always going to be exciting, but there was never any doubt that we would not see a Labour win in our area.
“I still think it’s a bit early to say, we have won quite a number of seats, it looks like we will be successful in Manchester Withington.
“We’ve taken Burnley so once I know the North West situation a bit better then I think we will have a better idea.”
When asked about a possible resignation from Ed Miliband, he added: “I think that is for tomorrow, I think we’re still in the position of not pre-judging the electorate. Anything could happen.
“We’ve done it as a team, if we lose tonight we’ll go down as a team, I think leveling individual criticism is wrong.
“If it is a bad night, as Graham Stringer said, we have to think deeply, but I think that’s for tomorrow.”
Graham Stringer looked tired by then end of the evening, and expressed disappointment with the national prediction for the Labour party.
He said: “I’m extremely disappointed with how Labour seem to be doing across the country, but at least we have done well locally.
“This has been a crucial general election for the future of our country and the future of public services has been the centre of the debate.
“I don’t know how the rest of the evening results are going to turn out, at this stage it’s looking not so good, I will do as I have pledged to represent the people of Blackley and Broughton.”
