One of the biggest events of this year came in July as Labour swept to power in the UK during the General Election – as well as in Bristol and the wider West of England region. It would also prove to be a significant moment for the Green Party as Bristol voted for its first Green MP in co-leader Carla Denyer when voters took to the polls on July 4.
Carla Denyer won the Bristol Central seat – a newly created constituency as Bristol West was dissolved and split into different wards. Bristol North West and Bristol East would gain wards and Bristol North East was created, eventually being won by Labour’s Damien Egan, meaning Bristol now has five MPs.
Various storylines unfolded during the tense night to determine who would be elected and who would be ousted. WECA mayor Dan Norris defeated Jacob Rees-Mogg in the North East Somerset & Hanham seat, 14 years after losing to the Conservative figurehead, which means that the WECA mayor seat will be up for grabs next year.
Elsewhere, Labour’s Kerry McCarthy held on to Bristol East where the Green Party stormed into second place amongst the votes. Karin Smyth continued a 90 year dominance for Labour in Bristol South and Darren Jones made sure Bristol North West stayed in Labour’s hands.
Just outside Bristol, Labour won the Filton & Bradley Stoke seat, the North Somerset seat (ousting Tory Liam Fox after 32 years) and the Weston-super-Mare seat, which was also a Conservative loss. The Liberal Democrats would win the Thornbury and Yate seat as Claire Young beat outgoing Tory MP Luke Hall in her third attempt, having lost in 2017 and 2019.
The performance of the Conservatives made headlines for the wrong reasons as the party was completely wiped out across the region. In fact, the Tories lost the five seats it held prior to the General Election and the nearest Tory MP is located in Bridgwater – 40 miles away.
The bigger picture saw Sir Keir Starmer elected as Prime Minister as Labour won 411 seats, compared to the Conservative’s 121. Labour had just a touch over a third of the entire vote.
Scroll down to look back at the historic day.