Labour holds Derwentside by 611 votes as Reform surge falls just short
Turnout of 38% in the County Durham seat produces the closest by-election result of the parliament and a seven-point fall in the Labour share
Labour has clung on to the County Durham seat of Derwentside by 611 votes after a by-election that saw Reform UK come within a single polling district of its first gain in the north-east, in a result both parties were presenting as a victory on Friday morning.
Labour’s candidate, Joanne Kerrigan, a former further education college principal from Stanley, took 14,208 votes against 13,597 for Reform’s Lee Dunbar, a haulage company owner. The Conservatives finished fourth with 2,944, behind the Greens on 3,106, while the Liberal Democrats lost their deposit. Turnout was 38.2%, down from 57% at the general election.
The contest was triggered by the resignation of the sitting MP on health grounds in August. Labour had held the seat and its predecessors continuously since 1950, but its majority of 11,400 last year had been widely expected to evaporate. Kerrigan’s share fell seven points to 38.4%; Reform rose 19 points to 36.7%.
“They threw everything at this, and we are still here,” Kerrigan said in her acceptance speech shortly after 3am, to cheers from a hall in Consett that had been silent for most of the night. “People told me on the doorstep they were angry, and they were right to be. My job now is to make sure that anger gets a result in this place and not just a protest vote.”
Dunbar, who had been introduced at a rally on Wednesday as “the next member for Derwentside”, said the result was “a warning shot heard in every Labour seat north of Leeds”. He claimed that 1,800 postal votes had been issued in the final 10 days and that his party would examine “how that happened”. Durham county council, which ran the election, said all postal applications had been processed within the statutory window and that the figure was in line with recent by-elections.
The campaign was dominated by the future of the former steelworks site at Consett, where a 1,200-home development has stalled, and by bus services, after the county’s largest operator withdrew three evening routes in the spring. Both leading candidates promised to lobby for the North East mayor to use franchising powers to restore them.
Dr Imogen Castellan, director of the pollster Northgate Research, said the result fitted a pattern of Reform “getting to 35% almost everywhere and then stalling”. “The ceiling is real, but so is the floor,” she said. “Labour held this with the lowest winning share in the seat’s history. That is a hold in the way that a man hanging from a window ledge is holding on.”
Kerrigan will be sworn in on Monday.
Sign up to First Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters.
Privacy notice: newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads and content funded by outside parties.
