General Election 2024: Shropshire's new political map and what it means for locals
In 2019 Boris Johnson's Brexit-fuelled charge saw Shropshire swept blue – fast forward five years and the remains of his party were just 2,507 votes from being wiped out in the county.
Now after Labour has secured a crushing national landslide, and with Keir Starmer set to walk into 10 Downing Street backed by more than 410 MPs, the county's political map has been re-drawn in the General Election 2024.
The Wrekin's Mark Pritchard is the Tories' only survivor from their 2019 success, with the MP delivering a fiery speech as he declared his sixth victory "the sweetest one of all" before shouting down hecklers from the crowd.
The Conservatives also held South Shropshire – the new name for the former Ludlow constituency – with Stuart Anderson keeping it blue.
Mr Anderson will be representing the county for the first time having replaced the long-standing and respected MP, Philip Dunne.
But Labour enjoyed their best night in the county for years, with Julia Buckley delivering a resounding victory over Conservative Daniel Kawczynski in Shrewsbury, and Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies winning the Telford seat – previously held by the Conservative Lucy Allan.
In North Shropshire Liberal Democrat Helen Morgan built on her landmark by-election success by piling another 8,000 votes onto her majority.
All of which means Shropshire wakes up to a very different political makeup, with questions over what that means for priorities, projects and long-standing plans.
That is even before people consider the questions raised by the level of support for Reform.
The party secured sizeable returns in all of Shropshire's constituencies – attracting a total of 44,412 votes across the county. It is a move likely to spark discussions on whether it represents a long-term trend, or simply disaffected Conservatives who wanted to give their party a black eye.
There will also be focus on what the change means for Shropshire, with the immediate attention likely to turn to health services.
Several of the county's newly elected MPs mentioned the health as a key concern in the wake of their victories.
Not just hospital services, but GPs and access to dentists.
The issue of the county's beleaguered hospitals might be one area that could find fresh focus – and potential advocates for increased funding.
Controversial plans for Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which runs both Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, were finally signed off by the government on the last day before parliament broke up for the election.
They will see Royal Shrewsbury Hospital becoming home to the Shropshire's only full A&E, as well the base for consultant-led women and children's services, which move over from Telford.
Princess Royal Hospital in Telford in turn becomes the centre for planned care and will also be home to an urgent care centre.
The pre-election decision means the 'Future Fit' hospitals transformation process is going ahead – it is approved and the work has started.
But, two of the county's MPs oppose the plans, instead wanting expanded more ambitious proposals, and now their party is in government.
Shrewsbury's Labour MP Julia Buckley has previously warned that the 'Future Fit' proposals did not go far enough, and had been scaled back due to a lack of funding.
Telford's Labour MP Shaun Davies has spent years battling against the proposals over his fears about the loss of Telford's A&E and its consultant-led women and children's centre.
While there's no chance that the current plans will be abandoned many will be asking what scope there is for the pair to push their new government to dip further into its pockets and expand on the ambitions for the county's hospital services.
Although changes are on the way there is no doubt that the county's residents have every right to be concerned about the state of our hospital services.
The worst A&E waiting times in the country and shocking details featured in a recent Dispatches expose are evidence of that.
Meanwhile Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road is another scheme that finds itself with one fewer significant backer this morning.
The defeat of Daniel Kawczynski removes the project's strongest advocate.
Julia Buckley is on-the-record as opposing the plan, but has also been forthright over the status of the project, arguing that until Shropshire Council or the government show they have the money to pay for it, it is effectively nothing more than an expensive pipe dream.
One thing is for certain, Shropshire Council will not have the support of Shrewsbury's MP when it goes to ask the government for more money for the project.
That's not the only transport issue concerning MPs – buses and improved public transport were a feature of campaigns from Mrs Buckley and Mrs Morgan.
Other issues which can't be ignored irrespective of political colour are the continuing frustrations over flooding, particularly along parts of the River Severn – as well as the ugly issue of sewage discharged into the rivers.
The reality is Shropshire finds itself in a very different position to 2019 and may benefit from MPs' need to work together, to collaborate and compromise in the interests of its residents.
