Smethwick General Election Labor winner says ‘it’s special’ and ‘town is in my heart’

Labor retained its large majority in Smethwick as the party maintained a strong hold on the Black Country town, with the Tories dropping to third place. Gurinder Singh Josan maintained Labour’s majority by more than 11,000 votes in Smethwick in a hugely successful night for the party in Sandwell, which also saw the Conservatives slip behind Reform into third place.

Mr Josan, a former Sandwell councilor who also sits on Labour’s NEC, took the revived Smethwick seat with 16,858 votes – a majority of 11,188. The Conservatives were pushed into third place, with reform candidate Pete Durnell polling 5,670 votes into second place. Conservative candidate Kate Fairhurst got 4,546 votes.

Speaking at the election results at Tipton Sports Academy, Mr Josan said: “I was born and bred in Smethwick, raised my family here, work here, worship here. This is my community. Smethwick is in my heart.” He said the victory in Smethwick was particularly special given the town’s history – referring to the racist political campaign that took place during the 1964 general election.

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“It is particularly poignant that a child and grandchild of immigrants have been elected today as the Member of Parliament for Smethwick,” he said. Elsewhere in the contest, independent candidate Christopher Graham received 348 votes, Roderick Macrorie received 2,741 votes for the Greens and former Tory councilor Jay Anandou received 1,322 votes as an independent candidate.

Ravaldeep Bath got 163 votes for the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, Lib Dem Oliver Patrick got 1,018 votes and Nahim Rubani got 2,449 votes for the Labor Party.

Mr Josan takes over from Labor peer John Spellar, who will join the House of Lords as a life peer, it was announced on Thursday 4 July. .

Labor won all three seats in Sandwell – keeping hold of the recently revived Smethwick seat and winning West Bromwich back from the Tories. The Conservatives won two historic victories in West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West in 2019 – winning the seats for the first time.