FORMER Emersons Green town councillor Sadik Al-Hassan pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the general election when he became the first ever Labour MP for North Somerset.
Mr Al-Hassan, a pharmacist who has lived in Lyde Green for ten years, overturned a majority of 17,536 to dump Conservative Dr Liam Fox out of office.
Dr Fox, a former Defence Secretary, International Trade Secretary and Conservative Party Chairman, had been the MP for North Somerset and its predecessor constituency, Woodspring, for 32 years.
But the Tory hold on the area stretched back longer than that, with the last non-Conservative MP elected in 1910.
Mr Al-Hassan secured a majority of 639 over Dr Fox, winning 19,138 votes to the sitting MP’s 18,499.
The Liberal Democrats were third with 7,121 and Reform UK was fourth, with 5,602 votes.
After his win, Mr Al-Hassan said: “I am truly honoured to be elected as the first Labour Member of Parliament for North Somerset.
“It is time for me to fight for our fair share and deliver for the people.
“I cannot thank those who put their trust in me enough and I will work hard to make you proud.”
The win for Mr Al-Hassan came just over a year after he missed out on becoming a South Gloucestershire councillor by just 10 votes, coming fourth in an unusually close vote last May, where just 50 votes separated second and fifth place.
Mr Al-Hassan was an Emersons Green town councillor for more than five years and served as the town’s deputy mayor, campaigning on issues including road safety, youth services and preventing antisocial behaviour.
Two South Gloucestershire councillors were elected as MPs.
Council leader Claire Young won the Thornbury & Yate constituency, which includes her ward of Frampton Cotterell, from Conservative incumbent Luke Hall (see Page 4).
Labour’s Leigh Ingham, who resigned from Kingswood ward when the general election was called in May, was elected the MP for Stafford, ousting Conservative Theo Clarke.
Frenchay & Downend ward Conservative councillor Liz Brennan, who stood as her party’s candidate in the Bristol South constituency, did not fare so well.
Her party, which had been second to Labour in 2019, was pushed into fourth place behind the Greens in second and Reform UK in third.