‘We govern for everyone’ - South Tyneside MPs react to Labour winning the 2024 general election

Voters headed to the polls up and down the country on Thursday, July 4, and within the early hours of Friday, July 5, it was declared that the Labour Party will be in government for around the next five years.

In South Tyneside, Labour MPs Emma Lewell-Buck and Kate Osborne both retained their seats as voters put their faith back in them.

The borough’s results were declared following a ballot count at the Temple Park Leisure Centre, in South Shields, just after 1am.

Speaking to the Shields Gazette after retaining her seat, Emma Lewell-Buck, South Shields MP, stated that the Labour Party will “govern for everyone”.

She said: “There is no better honour than public service and to have people put their faith in me for the fifth time is an amazing feeling.

“For the last 14 years, I’ve watched people struggle and I’ve seen what 14 years of the Tory’s has done to our home so it is emotional to think that we can start to repair some of that damage.

“People have got hope again, we can rebuild our country, reinvest in public services and that is what people deserve.

“It has been one of the cruellest Tory governments in living memory and to try and get them to do anything that helps people has been nigh on impossible - it’s like banging your head off a brick wall.

“Whereas now, it is in my party’s DNA to make sure that when we govern, we govern for everyone and we’ll do that this time as well.”

Read more: General election 2024: Full list of results for South Tyneside

Kate Osborne, MP for the newly formed Jarrow and Gateshead East constituency, gave an insight into what life will be like under a Labour government.

Ms Osborne commented: “I’m honoured to be re-elected and I want to thank every person who voted for me.

“I will represent everyone across the constituency to the best of my ability and a Labour government will deliver for the people.

“Life will certainly look a lot different to the last 14 years of chaos, corruption and lies from the Tory government.

“We have a lot to do but we’re going to put the NHS back on its feet, we will make sure that children aren’t going hungry at school, we’re going to deliver a new deal for workers to rebalance the power between employees and employers and we’re going to try and bring green jobs to places like the North East.

“We want to show our communities that we do care and allow them to not feel left behind, which has been the case over the last 14 years.”

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Kate Osborne also expressed her concern at a shift to the right in British politics with the Reform UK Party coming second a vast number of constituencies both in the North East and wider UK.

The Jarrow and Gateshead East MP added: “It does concern me and I think we have to key a close eye on that.

“I think people have lost hope to a degree, they’ve struggled and they now see hope where I don’t believe it lies.

“That’s why I hope they will start to see a Labour government delivering for them and for those who have gone away from Labour, regardless of where they have gone to, that they will come back.

“I think that is what we’ve seen tonight, people putting their faith back in the Labour Party and we will deliver for them.”