Community celebrates Labour landslide

Community @communityunionJuly 5, 2024

Responding to today’s last night’s historic General Election result, Community General Secretary Roy Rickhuss CBE said:

Last night’s historic General Election result representing a turning point for the country. Labour’s incredible landslide victory under Keir Starmer has turned the page on fourteen years of national decline under the Conservatives, and has ushered in a new era with a government which will be firmly on the side of working people right across the nations and regions of the UK.

After the crushing election defeat of 2019, few of us would have imagined a Labour victory on this dramatic scale would have been possible in 2024. That this stunning landslide win has been achieved so swiftly is a credit to Keir Starmer’s leadership, and his remarkable transformation of the Labour Party back into a credible, relevant and ambitious political force which faces the future and acts in the national interest.

Since 2010, successive Conservative Prime Ministers oversaw an era of damaging austerity, stagnant wages, increased insecurity at work, and rising levels of poverty. David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak all led administrations which sat on their hands while working people struggled, and vital strategic industries like steel were neglected. We have seen the consequences of this across our steel industry and most recently at Port Talbot where we are still doing all we can to oppose Tata’s bad deal for steel – a devastating plan which was signed off by the Tories.

In contrast, we now have an incoming Labour government which understands the value of British manufacturing – as seen in its planned £3 billion investment in our steel industry, which has enormous potential for Port Talbot, Scunthorpe and other sites across the country.

We also have a newly-elected Labour government which will support our light industries. A Labour government which fix our broken prisons and justice system after a decade of Tory cuts. A Labour government which will stand up for education professionals at all levels, including through a generational change to the Early Years system. And a Labour government which stand up for working people and collaborate with trade unionists, rather than bash them for cheap headlines. It’s a new era, and things are about to get better for working people.

It’s also been wonderful to see so many Community-backed candidates elected and re-elected to Parliament overnight from every corner of the country. Among those entering Parliament for the first time is Kate Dearden, the new Labour MP for Halifax, who has served our union with distinction as Head of Research, Policy and External Relations. Kate has been a champion for working people during her time at Community, including through her groundbreaking work on behalf of our self-employed members who can now look forward to a new era of respect and recognition under a Labour government.

Joining Kate in the new intake of Labour MPs are some 75 new Community Labour members , and 20 returning members from the last Parliament. With 95 Community MPs in Westminster, we now represent a larger group on the Commons benches than the Liberal Democrats, Reform, the SNP and Plaid Cymru combined! These new Community MPs are also spread across the length and breadth of the UK: from Hertfordshire to Hexham; Monmouthshire to Motherwell; Penistone to Plymouth and Renfrewshire to Redruth. We look forward to working closely with these members on the much-expanded Community Parliamentary Group over the weeks, months and years ahead.

As a proudly Labour-affiliated union, we will be working hard to support Keir and Labour’s progressive and transformational agenda, as well as constantly pushing for the best possible deal for our members across every sector of the workforce.

There are undoubtedly challenges ahead for many of the industries we represent, including steel, but the fact that we now have a government which is open and willing to engage with us can make a huge difference. We will be a constructive ally to the new government, which like the Labour Party itself, is now back in the service of working people. After fourteen years of despair, we now have hope again.

Congratulations to all Community MPs elected and re-elected to Parliament:

Stephen Kinnock (Aberafan Maesteg)
Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth)
Connor Rand (Altrincham and Sale West)
Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley)
Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury)
Sean Woodcock (Banbury)
Nesil Caliskan (Barking)
Jo White (Bassetlaw)
Liam Conlon (Beckenham and Penge)
Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland)
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney)
Kirith Entwistle (Bolton North East)
Phil Brickell (Bolton West)
Jess Toale (Bournemouth West)
Judith Cummins (Bradford South)
Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley)
Oliver Ryan (Burnley)
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth)
Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham)
Samantha Dixon (Chester North and Neston)
Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet)
Rachel Blake (Cities of London and Westminster)
Becky Gittins (Clwyd East)
Paul Davies (Colne Valley)
Sarah Russell (Congleton)
Catherine Atkinson (Derby North)
Blair McDougall (East Renfrewshire)
Tom Rutland (East Worthing and Shoreham)
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South)
Feryal Clark (Enfield North)
Abena Oppong-Asare (Erith and Thamesmead)
Steve Race (Exeter)
Claire Hazelgrove (Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Sarah Sackman (Finchley and Golders Green)
Michael Payne (Gedling)
John Grady (Glasgow East)
Maureen Burke (Glasgow North East)
Alex McIntyre (Gloucester)
Kate Dearden (Halifax)
Gareth Thomas (Harrow West)
Joe Morris (Hexham)
Peter Kyle (Hove and Portslade)
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn)
Wes Streeting (Ilford North)
Jas Athwal (Ilford South)
Martin McCluskey (Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West)
Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater)
Rosie Wrighting (Kettering)
Melanie Ward (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Hamish Falconer (Lincoln)
Maria Eagle (Liverpool Garston)
Gregor Poynton (Livingston)
Douglas Alexander (Lothian East)
Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Catherine Fookes (Monmouthshire)
Pamela Nash (Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke)
Carolyn Harris (Neath and Swansea East)
Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Jessica Morden (Newport East)
Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor)
Chris Hinchliff (North East Hertfordshire)
Dan Norris (North East Somerset and Hanham)
Mike Reader (Northampton North)
Alice Macdonald (Norwich North)
Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale)
Alison Taylor (Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Miatta Fahnbulleh (Peckham)
Jonathan Hinder (Pendle and Clitheroe)
Marie Tidball (Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Fred Thomas (Plymouth, Moor View)
John Healey (Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Olivia Bailey (Reading West and Mid Berkshire)
Anna Turley (Redcar)
Chris Bloore (Redditch )
Bayo Alaba (Rochford and Southend East)
John Slinger (Rugby)
Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe)
Anna Dixon (Shipley)
Heidi Alexander (South Swindon)
Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay)
Chris McDonald (Stockton North)
David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North)
Alan Campbell (Tynemouth)
Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Angela Eagle (Wallasey)
Stella Creasy (Walthamstow)
Andrew Lewin (Welwyn Hatfield)
Sarah Coombes (West Bromwich)
Ashley Dalton (West Lancashire)
Josh MacAlister (Whitehaven and Workington)
Matthew Patrick (Wirral West)
Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East)
Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East)
Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East)