As expected, Labour romped home in the three constituencies of Salford and Eccles, Worsley and Eccles South and Blackley and Broughton at the General Election.
Salford and Eccles
In Salford and Eccles, Rebecca Long Bailey won back the 15% of Labour voters who turned their backs on Hazel Blears in 2010, more than doubling the previous majority to 12,541. Meanwhile, the LibDems collapsed, losing almost 5,000 votes which seemed to be split between UKIP (7,806) and Labour. Of the alternative parties, the Greens pulled 2,251, Bez and the We Are The Reality Party got 703 votes and Noreen Bailey for TUSC got 517.
In her victory speech, Rebecca Long Bailey described Salford people's `five years of suffering' under the ConDem Government, listing the fall in living standards, the privatisation of the NHS, and the rise of zero hours contracts, food banks and council cuts...
"David Cameron, I've got a message for you tonight" she said "The people of Salford and Eccles have had enough and they're angry. They deserve better..."
Bez, from the Reality Party, called her speech `sickening'...
"What's been voted for here is TTIP and fracking which is horrifying" he said "Rebecca Long Bailey is talking about suddenly becoming this socialist party fighting for the people, when it was Labour who signed it all away in the first place. So I find it quite sickening to listen to really but that's two party politics for you.
"It went as I thought it would really" he added "We knew Labour was going to win it obviously; I said UKIP was going to do well which it did, the Conservatives did better than I thought they would, and our young people are voting for the Greens which I thought they would as well. Despite what happened today we've got our plans and we start today..."
Full results for Salford and Eccles
Rebecca Long Bailey, Labour Party 21,364
Greg Downes, Conservative Party 8,823
Paul Doyle, UKIP 7,806
Emma Van Dyke, Green Party 2,251
Charlie Briggs, Liberal Democrats 1,614
Bez Berry, We Are The Reality Party 703
Noreen Bailey, TUSC 517
Sam Clark, The Pirate Party 183
Total votes: 43,457
Turnout: 58.49%
Worsley and Eccles South
In Worsley and Eccles South, standing MP Barbara Keeley increased her majority by around 1,500 votes since 2010, and it was a similar story to Salford and Eccles, with the Conservative vote holding firm, UKIP not making an impact and the alternative parties remaining very much an alternative, as people voted for Labour against the ConDem Government.
In her speech, Barbara Keeley focused on the affects of the Bedroom Tax on her constituents and the value of public services and their staff...
"I pledge to campaign to recognise and value these staff on who so many people rely" she said "I will continue to campaign for carers and for improved health and social care because that has been my main interest the whole time I have been an MP. I pledge now to work for the people of Worsley and Eccles South who put their faith in me."
Steven North, who stood for TUSC, pledged to hold Keeley to her words as it was being confirmed around the country that the Conservatives were on course to get an overall majority...
"It looks like tonight we're going to get more of the same over the next five years and the question for the people who have done well tonight is `What are they going to do about that?'" he asked "Are they going to do the same that they've done over the last five years?
"Going along with doing nothing clearly hasn't helped them nationally tonight, and in Scotland they've been wiped out by a party that is seen as to the left of them; that is seen as being a party that will actually challenge the establishment, albeit it only to a certain extent in our view" he added "They need to take notice of that in Salford. They need to actually start leading. They take people's votes but now let's do the real work. Are they going to stand with people like us, and other candidates that have stood up against austerity, and help us? That's what we want them to do because we're going to keep fighting..."
Full results for Worsley and Eccles South
Barbara Keeley, Labour Party 18,600
Iain Lindley, Conservative Party 12,654
Owen Hammond, UKIP 7,688
Chris Bertenshaw, Green Party 1,242
Kate Clarkson, Liberal Democrats 1,100
Steven North, TUSC 380
Mags McNally We Are The Reality Party 200
Geoffrey Berg, Independent 184
Total votes: 42,182
Turnout: 58.44%
Blackley and Broughton
This is the constituency where the whole of Broughton and Kersal has been dumped into what is essentially a Manchester MP seat, so it's difficult to get a picture of how Salford people voted. However, in the lowest turnout of the three constituencies, and in line with elsewhere in the city, Labour MP Graham Stringer was re-elected, the LibDem vote collapsed, UKIP made no impact and the Green Party asserted itself as a genuine alternative against the mainstream...
Speaking about the Green Party vote overall in Salford, Wendy Olsen declared that she was "extremely pleased with the outcome, we had the expectation that there would be a lot of progressive votes...
"We see this election shows a divide in this country between left and right" she added "In the coming months I think we'll see the NHS decimated, parcelled out into little bits; we'll see schools sold off to private firms, we'll see the Americans coming in on sub contracts, so I'm very concerned about the anger that may pop out onto the streets. My message is that we should avoid inflammatory language; we should make sure that people can express their views democratically about the problems in this country because there is a lot of anger and frustration tonight..."
Full results for Blackley and Broughton
Graham Stringer, Labour Party 22,982
Martin Power, UKIP 6,108
Michelle Tanfield-Johnson Conservative Party 5,581
David Jones , Green Party 1,567
Richard Gadsen, Richard Liberal Democrats 874
Total votes: 37,112
Turnout: 51.9%
For full details of the Salford Local Election and results - click here
Photos by Steven Speed
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