The Tories won the Labour seat by a slim majority of 712 votes, sending shockwaves through Jeremy Corbyn’s party. The constituency, a former mining community, had been ranked the 85th most vulnerable seat in the general election by the Labour Party and if the exit poll is correct, Blyth Valley will be the first of many in the Labour heartlands to turn blue. The result came in third and has already been described as “one of the biggest moments of the night”.
Commenting as the result came in, BBC anchorman Huw Edwards said: “That is one of the biggest moments of the night.
“This is the Conservative Party taking the former mining community of Blythe Valley from Labour. That is a very significant pointer.”
When it was announced the Tories had stolen the seat from Labour, huge cheers could be heard from the crowd.
The newly elected Tory MP then thanked Boris Johnson as he gave his speech.
Ian Levy said, as his voice cracked with emotion, said: “I’m going to go on that train to London on Monday and we’re going to get Brexit done and build a strong economy for Blyth Valley.”
The Tory candidate won the seat with 17,440 votes, Labour trailed on 16,727.
It is the first time the seat has turned blue and comes as a massive shock to Labour as the constituency forms part of Labour’s heartlands.
Labour’s Susan Dungworth won the seat in 2017 with a majority of 7,915.
The result marked a 10 percent swing from Labour and was in line with the exit poll published at 10pm.
Polling guru John Curtice said of the result: “The exit poll forecast that the Conservatives would narrowly win Blyth Valley with a 15-point drop in the Labour vote, and we had a 15-point drop in the Labour vote and the Tories narrowly won Blyth Valley.”
He added that the 18-point drop for Labour in Sunderland South was “also anticipated”.
The political expert warned Labour “seem to be in serious trouble”.
Two other results have already come through, both Labour holds.
Sunderland was held with a reduced majority, as was Newcastle Central.
The official general election exit poll suggests there will be a significant Tory majority.
It predicts Mr Johnson will win a huge majority of 86, winning 368 seats.
Labour look set for their biggest seat, down 71 seats to 191.
The SNP are expected to take 55 seats and the Lib Dems are on track for 13 seats.
Plaid Cymru was put on three seats, the Greens on one and the Brexit Party is not expected to win any seats.
