General Election Results 2017: Hung Parliament
In a night of surprises, the Conservative Party has lost their majority in the House of Commons, but will form a minority government.
The party, led by Prime Minister Theresa May, won 318 seats (with one seat still to announce), putting them 8 seats short of an overall majority. Support from the 10 Democratic Unionist MPs from Northern Ireland should allow Mrs May to continue as Prime Minister, although her long-term future as leader of the Conservative Party is in doubt.
What’s the picture in the North East?
There has been relatively little change in the political landscape of our region, with only two seats changing hands last night. The Conservatives picked up one of their key targets – Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland – from Labour, whilst Labour made a surprise gain in Stockton South, previously held by Government minister James Wharton.
The new Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South is Simon Clarke, who has a background in health and education policy, whilst GP Dr Paul Williams took Stockton South for Labour.
There are also three new Labour MPs in the region who have taken the place of colleagues who stood down. Mike Hill, a health campaigner and trade union official, held Hartlepool, whilst Liz Twist held Blaydon. North West Durham, previously the seat of Pat Glass, was held by Laura Pidcock, who was a mental health support worker and later the manager of the education team of an anti-racism charity.
The graphs below show the vote share in the region and the change in this share compared to the last election in 2015:
