It was a successful night for Labour as the party won the new seat of Widnes and Halewood, with the Conservatives being pushed into third place by Reform UK.

The seat was one of two to replace the former constituency of Halton, which had been disbanded due to a national shake-up of Parliamentary boundaries.

Derek Twigg, who had been the former MP for Halton, was victorious - taking the new seat for The Labour Party with 23,484 votes. Runner up was Reform with 7,059, Conservatives with 3,507, Greens on 2,058, Lib Dems with 1,593, and the Workers Party of Britain with 415.

Turnout was 38,211 - 54.46%. Although not a like-for-like comparison, turnout in Halton in 2019 was 64%.

In his victory speech, Mr Twigg said: "It is an absolute privilege and honor to serve in Parliament, a constituency I was born and bred in and I will never take your support for granted. It must be earned and I pledge to continue to work hard on your behalf and for the interests of my constituents."

He warned that it would take time for Labour to turn things around but said the party would 'rebuild Britain'.

He said: "It looks like based on the opinion polls and results so far that we're finally done with 14 years of Tory rule that has brought a legacy of austerity, the worst cost of living crisis in living memory and the devastation of public services. The NHS in crisis and the underfunding of our armed forces and who will ever forget the Liz Truss mini budget that sank the economy."

He added: "The clear messages we're seeing from results tonight is that the people of the nation are desperate for a change, for stability and competence, they wanted rid of this broken and desperate Tory government."

The seat of Widnes and Halewood straddles the counties of Cheshire and Merseyside. As well as the town of Widnes itself, it also includes Halewood which moved from the  abolished Garston and Halewood constituency.  Voters were also drawn from the majority of the Whiston and Cronton ward - excluding the town centre of Whiston - from the St Helens South and Whiston constituency.

He added: " I will be a strong voice for the Widnes and Halewood constituency in Westminster, working hard to bring in more resources and improvements to the lives of people who live here. So thank you again for all your support."