Conservative stalwart Andrew Selous was the biggest loser in Bedfordshire, losing his Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard seat to Labour.
Labour held four seats overnight, including Bedford, Luton and South Bedfordshire – and Luton North.
Luton North MP Sarah Owen said she would work hard to win the trust of constituents, as Reform UK and the Workers Party also saw substantial numbers.
Conservatives Richard Fuller and Blake Stephenson retained their seats.
Sarah Owen retained her seat with 14,677 votes in Luton North, with Jilleane Brown coming second for the Conservatives with 7,167. Reform polled 4,666 with the Workers Party of Britain getting 3,914.
In her acceptance speech the MP said: “I love Luton, it’s my home and I’m so proud to represent it. Thank you.
“I will continue to work incredibly hard to represent everyone in Luton North and win the trust of those who couldn’t feel they could vote for us this time”.
She then went on to thank all the volunteers who helped in her campaign.
Rachel Hopkins has won the Luton South & South Bedfordshire seat for Labour with a 35.4% share of the vote.
She said: “People have voted for change after 14 years of Conservative failure.
“It’s now up to us as an incoming Labour government to rebuilt trust when it comes to the economy, rebuild our public services that have been decimated over the last 14 years, and rebuild trust and integrity in politics.”
Conservative Andrew Selous’s 23-year stint as an MP has come to an end as he loses the redrawn Dunstable & Leighton Buzzard seat to Labour’s Alex Mayer.
Ms Mayer wins by just 667 votes, to become the first female MP in the area since 1966.
After two narrow wins in 2017 and 2019, Labour’s Mohammad Yasin has won in Bedford for a third time, but this time has a majority of over 9,000.
In second place was Conservative Pinder Chauhan – with Reform UK in third.
Mr Yasin paid tribute to his team and particularly his campaign manager, Shane Kelly.
With a much reduced majority Richard Fuller regained his North Bedfordshire seat.
He won with 19,981 votes, and in second place came Uday Nagaraju, for Labour with 14,567 votes.
He said despite the Labour landslide, the Tories need to provide an “effective opposition”.
The Conservatives need to remain united as people do not like divided parties, he added.
Blake Stephenson has won back the seat of Mid Bedfordshire for the Tories with 16,912 votes, seeing off the Labour candidate who polled 15,591 votes.
The seat had been the preserve of Conservative ex-minister Nadine Dorries, who resigned in 2023, a year after Rishi Sunak took over leadership of the Tories, after Boris Johnson was ousted by his party.
A by-election saw Labour’s Alistair Strathern win the seat with a 1,192 majority, overturning Ms Dorries’s 2019 majority of 24,664.
He is now standing in the neighbouring Hitchin constituency in Hertfordshire.
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Source Agencies
