Andrew Western is the newest Member of Parliament in the House of Commons after Labour secured an easy win in the Stretford and Urmston by-election last night.
The 37-year-old, who has led Trafford Council since 2018, won 69.7% of the vote for a majority of 9,906. The Conservatives won only 15.9% of the votes, with the Green Party’s Dan Jerrome, who is also an Altrincham councillor, in third with 4.3%.
On a day that Western said “must hold the record for the coldest polling day”, only 25.8% of eligible voters turned out.
Timperley-raised Western has stood for Labour against Sir Graham Brady in the Altrincham and Sale West seat for the last two general elections.
On both occasions he came up short, but there was little chance of him being denied victory in Stretford and Urmston, which has voted Labour since the constituency was created in 1997.
He succeeds Kate Green, who resigned last month after being nominated as deputy mayor of Greater Manchester.
Western said: “The people of Stretford and Urmston do not just speak for this constituency but for millions more people up and down the land who know that this government has been letting us down for the past 12 years.
“The Tories have given up on governing and it is increasingly clear that the British people are giving up on them.”
Western also thanked his mother Denise, a Trafford councillor for the Broadheath ward and an NHS worker. His father was a senior trade unionist and served as regional secretary of the Fire Brigades Union.
