Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton general election 2024 results in full

Following a volatile battle in Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, Labour managed to hold onto the seat. Jim McMahon was re-elected for a fourth term, with a majority of around 5,000 votes.

The incumbent MP received 13,232 votes, around a third of the total number. The result is a far cry from his last election in 2019, when McMahon swept up more than half of the vote. .

McMahon was nonetheless cheerful about the win and said: “It’s been a really tough campaign. After 14 years of frankly ‘managed decline’, I was determined that with a Labour government in parliament, Oldham had a seat around the table. And that’s exactly what we’ve achieved today.”

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The incumbent held the office of Shadow Minister for Devolution and Local Government and could take a role in the new cabinet.

He added: “If you want to change the country, you can’t do it from Whitehall. You’ve got to devolve down - that’s about trusting our metro mayors, councillors but also our local communities.

“I’m invested in this place, I love it, I care for it. I’m also hugely frustrated that we’re not realising our full potential. And in that desperation, people are exploiting the division. I want to rebuild that sense of hope and optimism, whatever role I’m playing at national level.”

Jim McMahon celebrated his win.
Jim McMahon celebrated his win. -Credit:MEN

The constituency has been a Labour strong-hold for almost three decades. But the recent local elections saw the party lose overall control of the council after voters in wards including Coldhurst, Werneth and Royton South chose to back independent councillors.

Gaza was seen as a ‘decisive’ factor in the Labour loss in May, with concerns the pattern could be repeated at a general election.

Independent Zaffar Iqbal, endorsed by George Galloway’s Workers Party, ran a campaign centred on Gaza and came in second place with 8,256 votes. He said: “Gaza was a central issue in this election. When I was out knocking on doors it was clear people felt a lot of pain because of the major parties’ stance.

“I’m disappointed that I’ve lost. But we’ve taken quite a sizeable chunk of the Labour vote which sends a message from our community - 'don’t take our votes for granted'."

A small crowd wearing Labour rosettes watch the live election coverage inside the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
A small crowd wearing Labour rosettes watch the live election coverage inside the Queen Elizabeth Hall. -Credit:MEN

In a place that has been seen as politically 'toxic', Mr Iqbal said he was proud to have run a 'clean' campaign. “I think people respected me for that,” he added. “There should be integrity in politics.”

Mr McMahon said there had been personal attacks and ‘underhand tactics’ throughout. He said: “There are parts of Oldham’s politics where certain people don’t believe that the normal rules and laws don’t apply to them.

“But I believe the ballot box is the best antidote to that. [Today] will be a rejection of the divisive politics that we have seen take place in Oldham for far too long, where people have used race and religion and any wedge issue to create differences.”

Reform candidate David Silbiger, who was not present at the count, came in third place, falling just short of 7,000 votes.

The Conservatives, who usually come in second in Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, lost votes to Reform, coming in fourth. Independent candidate Raja Miah (2,470) came in fifth, followed by the Greens (1,857), Lib Dems (1,271) and Independent Tony Wilson (573).

Turnout overall for the seat was 51 percent down from 2019 by around 10 pc.