General Election 2024: Liberal Democrats' Stockport success as Ed Davey's party win Cheadle and Hazel Grove
Labour hogged the headlines but it was also a good night for the Liberal Democrats in the General Election.
They were on for their “best result in a century” according to leader Ed Davey partway through a dramatic night - and two of their wins came in the borough of Stockport.
All three of the seats in the borough were up for grabs as the UK went to the polls. Cheadle, Hazel Grove and Stockport were contested, and the winners were announced at around 3am.
Lib Dem Lisa Smart was victorious in Hazel Grove. She picked up 17,328 votes which was around 6,500 more than second placed Claire Vibert of Labour. The second Liberal Democrat win of the night in Stockport was provided by Tom Morrison in Cheadle. His 23,681 votes put him more than 12,000 ahead of Conservative candidate Mary Robinson.
In-between these two Lib Dem wins was a success for Labour. On a night where a formidable majority was built by Sir Keir Starmer’s party, Navendu Mishra added to this with a huge win in Stockport.
The Liberal Democrat winners chatted to ManchesterWorld following their victories. Both were keen to get on with the job, and addressed one issue in particular that has been highlighted by party leader Ed Davey.
New Hazel Grove MP Lisa Smart said: “It’s the biggest honour of my life to be elected by the people of the Hazel Grove constituency and I couldn’t be prouder of my campaign team. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who voted Lib Dem in Hazel Grove. Whether you voted for me or not, I am going to work tirelessly for you, I’ll make a pest of myself in standing up for this community.
“We’re going to be standing up for the issues that people have told me on their doorsteps. We’ll stand up to get our health and social care system the funding it needs, but also to stop the water companies from dumping raw sewage into our waterways and to address the cost of living crisis that too many people are still living with. I look forward to getting cracking - after a little bit of kip.”
Mr Morrison was the Lib Dems second Stockport success of the night. He is the new MP for Cheadle, and after the results came in he spoke to ManchesterWorld.
“I’m absolutely delighted and overwhelmed that people have thrown their support behind me and our Liberal Democrat campaign here,” he said. “I think we have a lot of work to do, and I’m really excited to get started.
“I think this is testament to the kind of campaign Ed Davey has been running nationally where he’s been getting the media attention for the stunts he’s been doing, but he’s been talking about the issues people really care about. This includes the sewage being dumped into our rivers, and this has really resonated with people. I’m delighted that we’ll be able to take these forward into parliament.”