General election results 2024: Tory stronghold Chelsea and Fulham has swung to Labour
By Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter
The west London Tory stronghold of Chelsea and Fulham has swung to Labour for the first time since its inception in 2010.
Hammersmith and Fulham council’s deputy leader, Ben Coleman, beat Conservative Greg Hands by just 152 votes. Mr Hands won with a majority of 11,241 in 2019.
Mr Coleman said a priority following his election was to ensure Charing Cross Hospital got the refurbishment promised by the former Tory Government.
Boundary changes have seen the composition of the seat slightly altered since the last election, with the Fulham Reach and West Kensington wards added and Brompton and Hans Town moved to Kensington and Bayswater.
Turnout at this year’s election was down on 2019, at 60.3 per cent compared to 69.8 per cent five years ago.
Polls leading up to the general election had predicted the result would be close-run, with the potential the seat would become part of an expected inner London ‘red tide’ taking in former Tory constituencies.
Penned in to end at around 3am, the count ended up running until 6.30am, with recounts pushing the announcement later into the morning.
Following the result, Mr Coleman said he felt “absolutely delighted” to have won Chelsea and Fulham for Labour for the first time, and that he was “determined to do the best I can for everybody in the constituency”.
Asked about his priorities in Government, he acknowledged the the party’s national aims, including increasing police numbers and reducing the NHS waiting list.
He said: “A local priority for me is following up on the fantastic promise that West Streeting, the Shadow Health Secretary, made when he came down just the other day to the constituency and said that Charing Cross would get the modernisation and the rebuild that it was promised by the Conservative Government, and then they dropped it.
“My priority is going to be making that happen.”
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