New Barrow and Furness MP 'incredibly humbled' as Labour take seat

Labour's Michelle Scrogham swept to victory in the constituency ahead of the sitting MP, Conservative Simon Fell.

Reform UK narrowly finished third in the poll -  with the results declared following hours of counting and verification at Barrow Town Hall.

In a victory speech, Mrs Scrogham said she would 'work tirelessly' for the 'whole of the constituency' and 'address the dysfunctioning Westminster'.

The turnout was 56.5 per cent (Image: Newsquest)

She achieved 44 per cent of the vote after more than 42,000 ballots were cast in the rejigged constituency, giving her a majority of more than 5,000.

Speaking after the result was declared she said she was 'incredibly humbled to have that trust put in you to do the job'

"It's one of the proudest moments of my life," she said.

Barrow and Furness results (Image: Newsquest)

Spelling out her first priorities, she said: "One of the first things I want to do is make sure we deliver for Barrow and Furness.

"We've got so many issues that I would like to put right.

"We're not under any illusions. It's a big job there's a lot to put right but we've got the baseline and the start for what we want to deliver.

"We've got a huge amount of money coming into the area with BAE but we've still got massive amounts of poverty and that's something I'd really like to tackle."

She welcomed the Labour victory nationally and said it would help address the 'travesty' of bulging NHS waiting lists, saying the health service would 'work the way it should'.

Counting at Barrow Town Hall (Image: Newsquest)

Simon Fell, who was elected in 2019, reacted to his losing his seat by saying: "The national polls have been terrible for ages.  "I think we bucked the national trend and a good chunk of that is because of what we've been doing for the last four and a half years here, lots of people mentioned it on the door.

"It's very clear lots of people are frustrated by what's been going on in Westminster too.

"So it's not a massive surprise but obviously a huge disappointment because we're not going to be here to see through the projects we've got going like Team Barrow and all these Levelling Up Fund and Town Deal initiatives."

Reform's Barry Morgan said there had been a 'groundswell' of support for his party in the area.

Some 56.5 per cent of the constituency electorate turned out to vote, down by around 10 per cent from the last election. 

Inside Barrow Town Hall (Image: Newsquest)

Full results:

Michelle Scrogham (Labour) 18,537

Simon Fell (Conservative) 13,213

Barry Morgan (Reform UK) 7,035

Adrian Waite (Liberal Democrats) 1,680

Lorraine Wrennall (Green) 1,466

Lisa Morgan (Party of Women) 290