Kate Osborne and Emma Lewell-Buck have spoken to the Shields Gazette moments after retaining their South Tyneside seats.
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00:00Therefore, we give public notice that Emma George-Brooke is duly elected as the member for the South Shields Parliamentary Constituency.
00:13Yes!
00:18Obviously, Emma, first off, congratulations.
00:19Thank you very much.
00:20We're to your seat here in South Kyneside.
00:21Thank you.
00:22How does it feel to hear, you know, your name be read out once again to be the MP of South Shields?
00:25You know what, there's no better honour than public service.
00:27And to have people put their faith in me for the fifth time, it's amazing.
00:32It's an amazing feeling.
00:33Obviously, there's been a lot of talk about reform.
00:35Maybe the vote here in South Kyneside for reform hasn't been as high as elsewhere in the country.
00:40Do you feel that's been the cause of a strong Labour campaign here in the borough?
00:43I think possibly.
00:45And, you know, I think it's a bit of a protest vote, a vote for reform.
00:48And it's our job to make sure that that protest vote decreases, not increases next time round.
00:53Now, obviously, it's been a massive sort of exit poll, you know, Labour Party on for what is pretty much a historic majority.
01:00How did you feel when you saw that exit poll earlier this evening?
01:03Well, you know, for the last 14 years, I've watched people struggle.
01:07We've tried to help people in my office.
01:09I've seen what 14 years of Tories has done to our home.
01:13And it is emotional to think that at last we can start to repair some of that damage.
01:18People have got hope again.
01:20We can rebuild our country, reinvest in public services.
01:23And that's what people deserve, don't they?
01:26And obviously, you know, you mentioned on stage, you know, you're not going to be able to deliver services for people in South Kyneside with hopefully a Labour government.
01:33What does that mean for you to be able to do that?
01:35Well, it just means that, you know, at the moment when we've had the Tories, it's been one of the cruelest Tory governments in living memory.
01:43And to try and get them to do anything that helps people has been nigh on impossible.
01:47It's like banging your head off a brick wall.
01:49Whereas now it's in my party's DNA.
01:51You know, we've always made sure that when we govern, we govern for everyone.
01:54And we'll do that this time as well.
01:56I thereby give public notice that Kate Osborne is duly elected as the member for the Gerald and Gateshead East parliamentary constituency.
02:11I'm honoured to be re-elected.
02:18And I want to thank every single person that voted for me.
02:21And I will represent, of course, everybody across the constituency to the best of my ability.
02:27And a Labour government will deliver for the people.
02:31Obviously, you just mentioned a Labour government.
02:33Obviously, nothing is official yet.
02:36Cautious optimism.
02:38Cautious optimism, exactly.
02:39The exit poll earlier was very, very promising, obviously.
02:41How did you feel when you saw that?
02:43Amazing.
02:44I mean, you know, I do like to be optimistic.
02:48I thought Labour would do well.
02:49As you say, we haven't got all the results across the country.
02:52But beyond our wildest dreams are certainly beyond mine.
02:56And, yeah, we can really start to make a difference now.
03:00And what will life look like under a Labour government?
03:02Well, it will certainly look a lot different to the last 14 years of chaos, corruption and lies from the Tory government.
03:09You know, we have a lot to do, but we're going to put the NHS back on its feet.
03:14You know, we are going to make sure that when children are sitting at school learning, they aren't going hungry.
03:20Because certainly in primary schools, they'll have a free breakfast.
03:23We're going to deliver a new deal for workers to rebalance that power between employees and employers.
03:31And we're going to try and bring new jobs, green jobs, certainly to places like the North East.
03:37And actually show our communities that we do care and make them not feel left behind or forgotten about,
03:44which has certainly been the case over the last 14 years.
03:48Now, you mentioned on stage, obviously, in your witness speech, you know, a shift to the right in politics.
03:53Reform has gone, obviously, very well in terms of hitting second place in a lot of constituencies here in the North East,
03:59things that have been declared so far. Does that worry you or concern you at all?
04:03Yeah, it absolutely does concern me. And I think we have to keep a close eye on that.
04:09I think people have lost hope to a degree. You know, they've struggled.
04:15And they see hope where I don't believe it lies.
04:20So I hope that they will start to see a Labour government delivering for them.
04:25And for those who have gone away from Labour, regardless of where they've gone to, that they'll come back.
04:31And I think that's what we've seen tonight. A lot of people putting their faith back in the Labour Party.
04:36And we will deliver for them.