Night of victory for Labour but Tories hold SW Devon

LABOUR has claimed victory in three of the four seats in the Plymouth area – with the Tories holding only South West Devon.

- CARL EVE & WILLIAM TELFORD

Plymouth Sutton & Devonport MP Luke Pollard was re-elected and is joined by new Labour colleagues Fred Thomas in Plymouth Moor View and Anna Gelderd in South East Cornwall.

South West Devon was retained by the Tories but has a new MP, Rebecca Smith, following the retirement of Sir Gary Streeter.

In Plymouth Moor View Labour’s Fred Thomas took the seat from Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer, one of several government ministers to lose their jobs on a disastrous night for the Tories.

Mr Thomas received 17,665 votes, securing victory with a 5,604 majority. Mr Mercer came second, receiving 12,061 votes. Reform’s Shaun Hooper was in third place, with 9,670 votes.

Exit polls had predicted there was a 99% chance that Mr Mercer, a former British Army captain, would lose his seat to Mr Thomas, a former Royal Marine.

The people of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport chose Labour’s Luke Pollard to return as their MP, with a whopping majority of 13,328.

Mr Pollard received 20,795 votes and has represented the seat since 2017 when he won it from the Conservatives. In 2019, Mr Pollard won with a 4,757 majority.

Ahead of the election, polls correctly predicted Conservative candidate, Gareth Streeter, would come in third behind Reform’s Peter Gold, who used his Star Trek looks to help his campaign.

Mr Gold came second, with 7,467 votes. Mr Streeter came in third with 6,873 votes.