The eight seats that show how divided Britain is

On the surface, Labour didn’t quite get the night it wanted.

With 411 seats secured, the party fell short of the record-breaking 418 seats secured by Tony Blair. 

The Conservatives’ support did collapse, but it wasn’t the total wipeout predicted.

These are the seats that tell the story of Labour’s successes, the potential legitimacy crisis facing the party and how the Tories just held off total humiliation. 

Dudley: Red Wall returns

Labour’s triumphant return in the Red Wall was marked not so much by a large swing to the party, but rather by the collapse of Tory support. 

Dudley saw the biggest loss of support, falling 34 points in the constituency. However, Labour’s vote share increased by just 3 per cent, with much of the Tory vote seemingly heading to Reform. 

In total, all but two of the 36 so-called Red Wall seats – those Brexit-supporting seats that abandoned Labour in 2019 – returned to the party.

Almost all of these matched the trends seen in Grimsby; on average 22 per cent of the vote went to Reform. 

Cities of London and Westminster: London chooses Labour

Perhaps no seat symbolises the wealth and power of the nation more than the Cities of London and Westminster. This is perhaps why, since 1950, it has been in Tory hands. However, on Thursday Labour took the seat with a 9.2-point swing for the first time. 

London did not totally reject the Conservatives. They continue to hold one in 10 seats in the city, but this is down from 40 per cent in 2010. 

Labour continued its gains seen in the past few elections, matching the same proportion of seats achieved by Blair in 1997. 

Alloa and Grangemouth: SNP slumps

Alloa and Grangemouth symbolises the worst of the SNP’s disastrous night, which almost entirely benefited Labour. The party saw its vote share fall by 23 points, the largest in the election, with Labour seeing its share increase by 30 points. 

Across Scotland, Labour secured its largest vote share since 2001, hitting 37 per cent. This was supported by a massive decline in both Tory support, to just 10 per cent, and the SNP, which saw its support plummet from 45 per cent to 30 per cent.

The SNP won just nine seats, with Labour increasing their Scottish count to 37.

Chichester: Lib Dem revival

Chichester was one of the largest swings conceded by the Conservatives to either the Liberal Democrats or Labour, with a 30-point swing to the party. 

The seat had been held by the Conservatives for a hundred years, and marks the Lib Dems’ return to form in the South West. They now control 41 per cent of the seats in the region, their best-ever performance. 

The Liberal Democrats’ success is also Labour’s, as all but one of the seats claimed had been held by the Conservatives. 

Aldershot: Southern England rejects the Tories

Not in its hundred-year history has Labour held Aldershot, but on Thursday the party won it with a 23-point swing.

The middle-class constituency saw a hefty rejection of the Tories, with their vote share falling from 56 per cent to 29 per cent.

This was a pattern repeated across the south, outside of London; in 2019, the Conservatives held 87 per cent of seats in the region. This year, their share plummeted to around 31 per cent. 

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have shared the spoils, with Labour’s control of MPs exceeding that of even the Blair government.

Basildon and Billericay: the country’s smallest majority

Basildon and Billericay saw Cabinet minister Richard Holden win by just 20 votes, the smallest Conservative majority recorded in the election.

Two recounts were needed to certify the victory, which eventually went to the Conservatives by just 0.05 per cent of the vote. 

The Conservatives held on to 37 seats with just a five-point margin, most of which they had gone into the election expecting to lose. 

For Labour, securing just over half of these would have pushed them ahead of Sir Tony’s record.

Blackburn: Muslims make their votes count

In Blackburn, Labour suffered one of its rare setbacks, losing to independent candidate Adnan Hussain. 

The constituency, where just under half the population is Muslim, saw Labour’s third-largest dip of the night and marked a trend that was repeated across Muslim areas. 

In Bradford West, Labour MP Naz Shah held her seat by just 700 votes after seeing the largest decline for the party in the country. Bethnal Green and Bow saw similar declines. 

Overall, Labour support fell by a third in the most Muslim areas as communities protested against the party’s position on Israel.

Sittingbourne and Sheppey: Labour wins, but lacks support

In Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Labour secured another slim margin over the Conservatives. 

The party, however, won the support of less than a third of all voters (28 per cent).

Record votes for third parties, notably Reform and the Greens, forced down the majorities – and potentially legitimacy – of many victors. 

Some 40 per cent of seats have been won with vote shares less than 40 per cent. Last year, it was just 3 per cent.