General Election 2024: 'Putting Tameside on the map' - Angela Rayner retains her seat in Ashton-under-Lyne

On General Election night in Tameside, she retained her Ashton-under-Lyne seat for Labour, as did Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds. 

Ms Rayner won with 15,575 votes and Mr Reynolds with 16,320. In both constituencies, second place went to Reform candidates with 8,784 and 7,781 votes respectively. 

As the future Deputy Prime Minister, all eyes were on her at Dukinfield Town Hall where the vote took place. As the results came in – at around 3am, a couple of hours ahead of schedule – crowds of Labour activists and media gathered around the door to greet her. 

However, she did not walk onto stage with her fellow candidates. She followed them shortly after from the other side of the stage. There were heckles of “corruption” from the Workers Party supporters at the back of the hall, to which the Labour activists replied with “democracy.”

In her victory speech, she said: “Throughout my life I have faced challenges, but I have also seen the power that has come from our community. The people on Bridgehall estate who have always known me as ‘our Ange’, the teachers who have had faith in me, the carers who I worked alongside and the trade unionists I stood alongside. From all of them, I learned that by working together and never taking no for an answer we can make change and make a difference.

“As they helped me when I needed it, I am now humbled to have the opportunity to make the difference for others. Because to represent this constituency is a privilege, but it is also a duty - one that I intend to fulfil. It is a vote for change. It is a vote to an end to division and to bring our country together, to replace self-service with public service, to take what is broken and begin to rebuild it, and to restore the belief to those who have had hope taken away.”

Tameside’s Labour councillors were our in force to support her. Bill Fairfoull, Deputy Leader of Tameside council, told ManchesterWorld after the results announcement: “I'm elated. Two really good results for Labour MPs in Tameside. We've turned in two fantastic MPs, not only MPs of course, we're going to form part of the government, so I'm really looking forward to the change which we've all voted for. It's a positive night and I’m looking forward to the Sunday breakfast round and all the great policies we're going to do.”

Similarly, Cllr Joyce Bowerman of St Peter's ward said: “It's been a wonderful night for Labour, the country has asked for change and we've got change. So we're all absolutely thrilled. It's going to put us on the map because we've got the deputy prime minister now, who's representing Ashton-under-Lyne and the surrounding areas, so we're all thrilled to bits.”

What did the other candidates say?

It was an interesting evening for the two fledgling parties, Reform and George Galloway’s Workers Party, with the former taking over the Conservatives as the second place party in Tameside. 

Angela Rayner’s closest competitor was 25-year-old Reform candidate Robert Barrowcliffe, who is also a professional wrestler. He said the Labour victory is a sign that “system is broken.”

He said: People are just disillusioned, especially in Tameside, especially in Ashton-under-Lyne. People are fed up. We've seen Labour win every single time, yet nothing seems to change. Our quality of life is going, jobs are at an all time low over here, getting on the housing ladder, rents have risen to an average of £750 over the last few years alone. It's bleak. 

The Worker’s Party candidate Aroma Hassan, who is a mum-of-three and newcomer to politics, said that this is “just the beginning” for her party.

She said: “In order to have a broad impact, you have to affect policy. And if you're not in the right arena, you will just be marginalised and ignored like the masses. So we can keep working in the arena that we are and make a limited impact, which is amazing and deep and meaningful, but if you want to make a broader impact that you've got to be in a place that makes you uncomfortable.”