Afzal Khan has cemented his position as the Labour Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton, garnering over 34,000 votes.
Khan, first elected to the seat in the 2017 election, was comfortably ahead of the Conservative’s Seb Lowe on 4,244, and the Liberal Democrat’s Jackie Pearcey, who received 2,448 votes.
“I’d like to thank the people of Manchester Gorton for putting their faith in me to carry on as their Member of Parliament.
“When I was elected in 2017, I promised to always put the people of Manchester Gorton first.
“That is what I have done, and that is what I will continue to do, ensuring the people that I am elected to represent have a strong voice in parliament.
“[Manchester] is a city I am proud to call my home and is a city that has shown us in unequivocal terms that it is Labour through and through.”
Khan continued to maintain the core principles of Labour are alive and well, and insists the party can recover from its devastating defeat in this election, which suggests a look to the future for the party.
“Our Labour party values of solidarity, community, and social justice are also deeply held Mancunian values, and it is these values which drive me to work my hardest to make Manchester Gorton a fairer place to live.
“I know that the national picture is not favourable to the Labour Party, I’m as disappointed as many of you here.
“But I know that in the past we have had setbacks, and we have come back. And I’m confident we will come back as a stronger party.”
Across the constituency, a total of nearly 44,545 votes were cast. However, that only amounts to an unimpressive 58% voter turnout.
Eliza Tyrell, the candidate for the Green Party and recipient of 1,697 votes, said: “I’m not surprised to not be elected. I think we increased the vote share by 1.16%.
“I’m not happy because I think we need to change things more quickly. I’d like to see Labour support electoral reform. After tonight’s events, I hope it’s something they’ll consider, more for their own sake than anything else.
“The seats across Manchester have been very safe seats for a long time, these are very solid Labour seats.
“But I think we are seeing that people are using their vote to show that they believe the Green agenda needs more serious support.”
Manchester Gorton was one of several central Manchester constituencies that kept to their historic roots and voted in a Labour MP.
The last time a Conservative won in Gorton was 1931, but it returned to Labour hands four years later.
