JUBILANT Labour supporters were celebrating as the party swept to power in Warrington North and South as former Mayor Faisal Rashid caused one of the biggest upsets of the night defeating sitting Tory David Mowat.
Faisal, who stood down as the town’s Mayor to fight the snap General Election eased home in the Tory held Warrington South with a majority of 2,549, despite former junior health minister Mowat increasing his vote from 2015.
One of the first to congratulate Faisal was former Warrington South MP Mike Hall, who won the seat back from the Tories in 1992 before moving on to Weaver Vale.
The former Mp hugged Faisal saying he had made him “very proud.”
Following his victory a jubilant Faisal said: “Although it was a marginal seat and we didn’t know what was going to happen we were getting lots of postive comments on the doorstep and unbelievable support on social media. My phone was red hot with people tagging me saying they had voted for me.
“We should thank David Mowat for the past seven years but it is now time for a new era. The Labour party and the people have said no to more austerity!”
A disappointed David Mowat said: “I have really enjoyed the last seven years, one month representing Warrington South and I hope I have helped make a difference.
“I wish Faisal all the best and believe he will be a good MP. Things have gone poorly for the Conservatives but politics is veryu clear and binary and this is democracy.”
Although he doesn’t know his exact plans for the future he said he would be having some sleep and doing some gardening.
Meanwhile in Warrington North veteran MP Helen Jones celebrated her Sixth General Election victory with her team of supporters.
See Helen’s victory speech on the video link below.
Faisal Rashid celebrates with saupporters
Helen Jones celebrating with her team
Faisal Rashid is congratulated by former Warrington South MP Mike Hall
Warrington North
Val Allen Cons 17,774
James Ashington UKIP 1,561
Helen Mary Jones Labour 27,356 – elected
Stefan Krizanac Lib Dems 1,207
Lyndsay McAteer Green Party 619
Turnout: 68%
Warrington South
Bob Barr Lib Dems 3,339
John Boulton Indep 1,217
David John Mowat Con 27,445
Faisal Rashid Labour 29,994 – elected
Turnout: 73%
Faisal Rashid looking confident during the count
Warrington North Results 2015
Sarah Hayes (Green) 1264
Helen Mary Jones (Labour) 21720 (Elected)
Stefan Krizanac (Liberal Democrats) 1881
Trevor Nicholls (UKIP) 7757
Richard Short (Conservative) 12797
Turnout 45621 (63%)
Warrington South results 2015
Bob Barr (Liberal Democrats) 3335
Kevin Bennett (TUSC) 238
Nick Bent (Labour) 23178
Stephanie Davies (Green) 1765
Mal Lingley (UKIP) 4909
David John Mowat (Conservative) 25928 (Elected)
Turnout 59548 (70%)
3 Comments
Gosh waking up to a RED Warrington – who’d of thought so – 2 months ago.
Well Faisal told me this would happen when he open the Art Exhibition at Picturesq in Latchford Village and he hadn’t even been selected at that stage.
He didn’t tell me what he thought about my ink and pencil drawing of a pair of chaffinches feeding – may be he was being diplomatic.
Congratulations to Helen Jones and Faisal Rashid – I hope you work hard together to represent our great town with city ambitions. Commiserations to everyone else.
Congratulations to Faisal Rashid.