Wes Streeting has scraped to victory as the Labour MP for Ilford North, after facing fierce competition from an independent candidate.
Streeting, first elected to the seat in 2015, was declared the victor at around 4.20am this morning (5 July) with a slim majority.
He received 15,647 votes, just 538 more than independent candidate Leanne Mohamad, who finished second.
That is 51 fewer votes than his narrow victory in 2015, which saw him succeed Conservative Lee Scott amid a national night of triumph for the Tories.
Independent Mohamad, who is British-Palestinian, led a heavy campaign against Streeting over Labour’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. She left the party last year, after leader Keir Starmer said Israel “does have that right” when asked on LBC Radio if it was fine for the country to withhold water and electricity from Gaza.
Polling had initially predicted he would increase his share of the vote, but Mohamad – who received 15,119 votes – was proven right in her belief it was a two-horse race.
Voter turnout in the constituency was 59.76%, with a total of 47,008 ballots cast during the 4 July election.
Streeting is expected to be appointed health secretary by the UK’s new Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, later today.
In his acceptance speech, he said: “The NHS saved my life – and now, I will do everything in my power to save our NHS.”
But he also acknowledged how Labour’s controversial stance on Gaza had damaged the party’s reputation, saying: “I know Labour has lost trust and support over Gaza.
“I am proud to be a politician who stands firmly in the ground where peace can be built in the Middle East.”
Calling for a ‘two-state solution’ to the regional conflict, he said people “cannot claim to support the interests of the Palestinian people” when they “celebrated Hamas’ barbarism”.
Nor can people claim to support “Israel’s security” by thinking the answer is “piling up the bodies of innocent Palestinian civilians through aerial bombardment,” he said.
Israel and Hamas, the militant body that governs the polity of Gaza, have been at war since the latter launched an attack against Israel on 7 October last year.
It claimed around 1,200 lives, but Israel’s response – which has seen more than 32,000 Gazans perish – has polarised Western attitudes.
Mohamad says she decided to stand against Streeting after he abstained from a vote calling for a ceasefire last November.
While his defeat would have been a blow to Starmer’s nascent government, he would not have been alone. In Leicester South, Labour’s Jon Ashworth was one of five MPs to lose his seat to an independent candidate campaigning on the Gaza issue.
Now in his ninth year as an MP, Streeting said he would not “forget his roots,” adding: “I have never forgotten who sends me to parliament or whose interests I am here to serve.”
He thanked the Metropolitan Police for “keeping us safe,” which he said was “more necessary than ever before”.
Mohamad arrived at the count, held in Redbridge Sports and Leisure in Fairlop, shortly before the results were announced. Streeting appeared, alongside Redbridge Labour councillors, at around 3.30am.
Looking ahead, the four-time MP said his priority would be helping junior doctors, and told the press his “first phone call” would be to the British Medical Association.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he would also “make sure” Whipps Cross Hospital would be rebuilt. The hospital was slated to be rebuilt by 2030, but various delays and funding issues have meant that is now unlikely.
When asked about overcrowding in east London hospitals, he said he would also ensure hospitals across the NHS followed in the footsteps of the King George Hospital to cut waiting lists.
He had earlier rejected the notion that he would further privatise the NHS.
The night saw big wins for Labour, both locally and nationally.
Streeting’s fellow Labour candidate, Jas Athwal, won in Ilford South with a comfortable 16,537 votes.
He likewise faced opposition from an independent candidate, Noor Jahan Begum, who finished second with 9,643.
Starmer will enter Number 10 as the UK’s next Prime Minister, with a majority of 211 seats as of 10.47am this morning, with two seats left to declare. The Tories have faced a wipeout, down to 121 seats from 365.
The full list of candidates and their share of the vote can be found below:
Wes Streeting – Labour – 15,647 votes
Leanne Mohamad – Independent – 15,119 votes
Kaz Rizvi – Conservatives – 9,618 votes
Alex Wilson – Reform UK – 3,621 votes
Rachel Collinson – Green Party – 1,764 votes
Fraser Coppin – Liberal Democrats – 1,088 votes
