West Bromwich election results: Labour reclaim town as Tories narrowly beat Reform to second

The single seat for the town was divided into East and West constituencies 50 years ago, with former Speaker of the House Betty Boothroyd the last MP under West Bromwich, but was reunited for this year's election.

Neither of the previous West Bromwich MPs, both Conservative, stood to contest the new seat, with former East MP Nicola Richards missing out on the chance to represent the party in Solihull West & Shirley, and Shaun Bailey, who represented West Bromwich West from 2019, standing in Tipton & Wednesbury.

Labour's Sarah Coombes emerged victorious, coming home with a majority of more than 9,000 with the Conservatives only just beating Reform UK into second.

In all 49.47 per cent of registered voters cast a vote in the election and the counters in zone 3 at Tipton Sports Academy worked quickly to check each vote and ensure everything was correct.

Ms Coombes said being elected as MP for West Bromwich was the greatest honour of her life and spoke of the privilege and responsibility of being the voice of her people in Parliament.

She said: "I promise you now that I will make our voice heard and I will fight each and every day to get the best for you.

"I couldn't be prouder to represent our part of the Black Country, a place of such history, such diversity and such spirit and, tonight, the people of West Bromwich, Oldbury, Tividale and Great Barr have sent a message that it is time for change.

"We believe that change is possible and we are fed up of the chaos and the decline and the failure of the last 14 years, so tonight, we are turning a page and we will be fighting every day."

The declaration for West Bromwich was the third of the night at the Tipton Sports Academy, but was met with as loud a response as the previous two seats from supporters of Ms Coombes, including friends and family.

She said the new Prime Minister Kier Starmer was realistic about the challenges facing the country and said there was no magic bullet, but the Labour Party would be focussed every day on delivering for people.

She also thanked her fellow candidates for making politics about the hope and optimism of people and spoke about what people had been telling her on the campaign trail.

She said: "People have been really struggling across the Black Country for a long time under the Conservative government and Labour is going to bring change to our region and change to our country.

"The key things people have raised with me over the campaign have been cost of living, the NHS, getting more police on the streets, investment in the region and and finding good paying jobs.

"I believe we will get the NHS back on its feet, which is the number one priority for so many people, with more appointments every week and more nurses and doctors and more dentists, as people have been struggling to get dentist appointments."

The full results are:

Sarah Coombes - Labour: 16,872

Parmjit Gill - Liberal Democrats: 1,314

Will Goodhand - Conservative: 7,318

Sam Harding - UKIP: 133

Gita Joshi - Green Party: 2,036

Ray Nock - Reform UK: 7,101

Mohammed Yasin - Independent: 1,707