Yahoo News Gareth Snell back as Stoke-on-Trent Central MP - five years after shock defeat
Gareth Snell has returned as Stoke-on-Trent Central's Labour MP - nearly five years after he surprisingly lost his 'Red Wall' seat to the Conservatives. Mr Snell's win in the Stoke-on-Trent Central election was the most comfortable of Labour's three victories in the Potteries - with a surging Reform UK pushing the Tories into third place.
But turnout in Stoke-on-Trent Central, at 47.99 per cent, was the lowest in the Potteries and the lowest seen in the constituency in a general election since 2001. Mr Snell received 14,950 votes, with Reform's Luke Shenton polling 8,541, and Conservative candidate Chandra Kanneganti only managing 6,221.
It was a very different picture in the 2019 general election, when Tory Jo Gideon's narrow victory over Mr Snell in the once solid Labour stronghold had been one of the more shocking results. Mr Snell believes Labour has learnt from its mistakes and has listened to voters, which led to Thursday's result.
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He said: "Labour spent the last election arguing amongst itself, telling the electorate that they were wrong and they needed to understand why we were right, and we've changed that. We've listened, we've engaged and I genuinely think we've created a Labour Party that's more engaging with communities like Stoke-on-Trent and we've offered policies that have resonated. Obviously, the low turnout means there's more to do, and the fact that so many people felt they couldn't come back to Labour and voted for other parties is something we need to work on. But overall, I think that the people wanted change and they voted for it."
Labour's victory in Stoke-on-Trent Central was actually achieved with a slightly lower vote share than the party managed in its 2019 defeat. This was due to the collapse in the Conservative vote in the face of the Reform challenge.
Dr Kanneganti, who is a GP and a city councillor, was selected as the Conservative candidate after Ms Gideon announced last year that she would not be seeking re-election.
He said: "I did my best, and campaigned hard over the last six months, but it's a democracy and I appreciate the decision by Stoke-on-Trent Central residents, and I suppose that national politics played a role here. I've been knocking on doors over the past few weeks and a number of Conservative voters have shifted to Reform. Some of the reasons they have given, I think the party should reflect on to see how we can again represent them."
The rise of Reform, both locally and nationally, was one of the big talking points of this general election.
Reform candidate Karl Beresford, who came a close third in the Stoke-on-Trent North election, believes Reform are here to stay.
He said: "There's a lot of people with a lot of common sense, and a lot of people unhappy with the two party system. It's evident tonight that we have a great deal of support out there, and it's a great argument for proportional representation as well. I think this has been a fantastic result, and I can't wait for the next general election."
Independent candidate Navid Kaleem, who campaigned on the issue of Gaza, came fourth with 2,281 votes.
