Who is Laurence Turner? New Birmingham Northfield MP after Labour beat the Tories

Birmingham Northfield has a new MP after the seat was won by Labour in the general election. Labour's Laurence Turner has beaten Conservative candidate Gary Sambrook - who turned the seat blue for the first time in 27 years in 2019 - to win the most marginal seat in Birmingham.

In the run-up to the election, Northfield was predicted to be a constituency where Labour had a good chance of beating the Conservatives, given the Tories' poor performance in the polls. For the first time since 2019, the seat will now be held by Labour, as it had been previously since 1992.

Laurence Turner was selected for the seat after long-standing former MP for the area Richard Burden decided against standing this year. But who is Laurence Turner, Northfield's new member of Parliament?

Read more: Full list of results for Northfield general election 2024

Who is Laurence Turner?

Laurence Turner is the former head of research and policy at the GMB trade union. He also worked under Richard Burden as a political adviser when Burden served as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. According to LinkedIn, he was responsible for media engagement, policy development and campaigns.

Before that, Turner served in the House of Commons as a parliamentary assistant. Speaking prior to the election, Burden said of Laurence Turner: "When I was a Shadow Minister, I worked closely with Laurence on Labour's transport policy.

"We called on Tory ministers to sort out the chaos they had created in bus services up and down the country. We urged investment in a modernised and greener motor industry to bring jobs to the Midlands. We helped draw up plans for a rail system that works for passengers and which is back under public ownership where it belongs."

Before the election, Mr Turner said: "All the communities in Northfield need a strong, campaigning voice in the constituency and in Parliament. I want my daughter to grow up here, and I will make sure that Northfield gets a full constituency office service again."

Birmingham Northfield 2024 election results

Labour's Laurence Turner won the seat with votes, beating the Conservative candidate Gary Sambrook who came second with 9,540 votes. Here are the results in full:

• Laurence Turner(Labour)14,929

• Gary Sambrook(Conservative)9,540

• Stephen Peters(Reform)7,895

• Rob Grant(Green)2,809

• Jerry Evans(Lib Dem)1,791

• Altaf Hussain(Independent)310

• Dick Rodgers(good)215

• Dean Gwilliam(Independent)163

Find the results in the West Midlands in our live blog.