This is your general election roundup for the North East region, including a Labour gain for 100-year Tory seat of Hexham, and a Teesside Conservative hold for Stockton West.
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00:00You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it and now it has arrived. Change
00:09begins now. Thursday the 4th of July saw millions up and down the country head out to make their
00:18voices heard in the general election. After polls closed at 10pm, the race was on, particularly
00:24here in the North East. Each time an election rolls around, ballot counters make the most
00:28of every second to declare their results the fastest. Nearly 20 years ago, Sunderland
00:33set the record, announcing their results in just 42 minutes and 45 seconds. In the last
00:38two elections though, they've been beaten by neighbouring Newcastle, declaring first
00:41in 2017 and 2019, both times just shy of 90 minutes after voting ended. So, who came out
00:48on top? Boundary changes in Newcastle were on the Sunderland team's side, meaning the
00:53latter at just about a quarter past 11 declared a Labour hold in Horton and Sunderland South.
00:58MP Bridget Philipson had an increased majority, with 47% of the votes up from 41% last time.
01:05And it was a result which was to set the tone for the rest of the night. Labour held seats
01:09in Blyth and Ashington, Sunderland Central, Washington and Gateshead South and Newcastle
01:14upon Tyne Central and West next. More Labour holds continued to flow in for the North East
01:19until just before 2am. With a nearly 9,000 vote majority, Labour took the Darlington
01:25seat from the Conservatives, with the Tories falling to second place. Redcar, Hartlepool
01:30and Bishop Auckland also turned red as Labour took the Conservative seats. But it wasn't
01:34until Starmer's party took Hexham that caused ripples of shock for many. It's the first
01:39time in 100 years that the Labour party has seen a victory there, with the Conservatives
01:43holding the seat since 1924. This time, Labour's Jo Morris secured 46% of the votes, with Conservative
01:51Guy Opperman coming in second place with 39%. As to be expected, social media was a buzz
01:56all the night through, with election news, but Northumberland grabbed netizens' attention
02:01for a perhaps unforeseen reason. When Lucia Bridgman, the High Sheriff of Northumberland,
02:05donned her traditional garb to read out results, she didn't expect to go viral in the process.
02:11Dubbed the Hat of the Night, the High Sheriff uniform attracted attention and many an online
02:16comment too. More Labour holds and gains for Stockton North, Middlesbrough South and
02:21East Cleveland, and Middlesbrough and Thornaby East came through, until at nearly half four
02:25in the morning, the first Conservative seat for the region. Back in the 2019 general election,
02:31parts of the Red Wall turned blue. Now the only North East brick that remains is Stockton
02:36West, with Matt Vickers for the Teesside Tories holding onto his seat, with a majority of
02:40just short of 42% of the votes. Labour came in second place there. While it may have seemed
02:45like a two-horse race for much of the night, Nigel Farage's Reform UK party came second
02:50behind Labour in many counts, including in Blaydon and Consett, Jarrow and Gateshead
02:55East, and in South Shields.