The North East red map as Tories all but wiped out and Labour makes huge gains

The Conservatives have been all but wiped out in the North East after a historic set of results in the 2024 General Election.

Labour won Hexham, a seat that had been held by the Tories for almost a century, and North Northumberland, both for the first time in its history, with the results unseating Government Ministers. It also took back a number of seats in County Durham it had surprisingly lost in the 2019 election.

A terrible night for the outgoing Government saw only Matt Vickers, in Stockton West, remaining for the Conservatives in the North East.

• Read more: North East general election results live

• Read more: All the North East general election results by area as Labour win landslide

As in previous years, quick counting saw the North East return the first MP in the UK, as Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson became the MP for the re-drawn Houghton and Sunderland South seat. As Sunderland beat Northumberland in the race to become the first place to declare a result, Ms Phillipson said: “Tonight the British people have spoken, and if the exit poll this evening is again a guide to results across our country as it so often is, then after 14 years the British people have chosen change.”

In that seat, and then a number of others in the North East that returned early Labour MPs, Reform took second place with significant vote shares.

Labour held all three of its seats in Newcastle to return Chi Onwurah, Catherine McKinnell and Mary Glindon, while in Sunderland Ms Phillipson was joined by new MP Lewis Atkinson and Sharon Hodgson.

But it was in Northumberland that the biggest results of the night were seen in the North East, with Transport Minister Guy Opperman losing Hexham to Labour’s Joe Morris and David Smith taking North Northumberland - the former Berwick constituency - from Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a key figure in the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss Governments.

Mr Morris received 23,988 votes, while Mr Opperman won 20,275, with the Conservatives losing a previous majority of more than 10,000.

Mr Morris said he was “humbled” by the vote but “excited” to start work. He added: “It’s a historic night. We have never sent a Labour MP from the Hexham constituency to Westminister before. It’s an immense honour and an immense privilege, but also an immense responsibility. I’m really excited to start delivering.”

In North Northumberland, charity leader David Smith beat Anne Marie Trevelyan by more than 5,000 votes. He said: “There has never been a Labour MP in North Northumberland, this new constituency. Let that sink in.”

Elsewhere in the county Ian Lavery took the new Ashington and Blyth seat and Emma Foody won in Cramlington and Killingworth. Ms Foody beat former Blyth MP Ian Levy while his wife Maureen lost to Mr Lavery.

In Gateshead, Mark Ferguson became MP for Gateshead Central and Whickham for Labour. South Tyneside returned its two sitting Labour MPs, with Emma Lewell-Buck winning in South Shields and Kate Osborne taking Jarrow and Gateshead East. Labour’s chief whip Sir Alan Campbell held his seat in Tynemouth.

In County Durham, Grahame Morris was re-elected in Easington and Mary Foy in City of Durham. Liz Twist took the new seat of Blaydon and Consett, while Labour won back Bishop Auckland through Sam Rushworth and Luke Akehurst, whose previous support of the state of Israel had made him a controversial candidate, comfortably held on to North Durham.

Alan Strickland was elected as the first MP for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor, retaking what had previously been Tony Blair’s Sedgefield seat. Outgoing MP Paul Howell was relegated to third as Reform candidate John Grant outvoted him.

It was on Teesside that the Conservatives had their only North East victory, with Matt Vickers taking the new Stockton West MP. But the party lost Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar, and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. Labour held Middlesbrough and Thornaby East and Stockton North.

Former North West Durham MP Richard Holden and Conservative Party chairman returned to Parliament, winning the Basildon & Billericay seat in Essex by just 20 votes after two recounts.