Labour’s 13-year reign in Staffordshire Moorlands at an end

Conservative Karen Bradley won the Staffordshire Moorlands parliamentary seat in the General Election last night, after ousting Labour’s Charlotte Atkins who had held the seat for 13 years.
Mrs Bradley received 19,793 of the total vote, a majority of 6,700. Mrs Atkins got 13,104 votes.
Liberal Democrat candidate Henry Jebb received 7,338 votes and UKIPcandidate Steve Povey gained 3,580 votes.
The result was declared at around 2am, four hours after the count started.
Mrs Bradley’s victory was met with cheers from her supporters. She thanked her campaign staff and Mrs Atkins for her work in the constituency. She said: “I am truly humbled and honoured to be given this responsibility and I realise what burden you are placing on me but I am also hopeful and optimistic for a brighter future ahead.”
Mrs Atkins, who was first elected to the seat in 1997, said she felt “privileged” to have been the MP for the last 13 years. She said: “I have had a very good record in terms of serving the constituency.
“Sadly the national swing and the boundary changes meant it was going to be an extremely tall mountain to climb and we failed to do so.”
Mr Jebb also thanked his team and he added: “The election nationally has been enlivened in the past few weeks by the Liberal Democrats. We have done our best to make sure the people of the Staffordshire Moorlands have a choice.”
Mr Povey said: “The people have spoken. As a minority party we have to break the mould. This election is unusual. Small parties are getting a voice.”
To Mrs Bradley he said: “It is good you got a majority. I hope you do something positive with it. The people of Staffordshire Moorlands have given you a mandate and I hope, on their behalf, you do your best.”
Voter turnout was 70.68% — up from 64% on the 2005 General Election.
The new boundary changes meant Butt Lane, Kidsgrove, Ravenscliffe and Talke, which were included in the Staffordshire Moorlands, are in the Stone constituency and Alton and Churnet are part of Stone.

For a full account of the evening’s events and what it means for Biddulph, buy the next edition of the “Chronicle” on Thursday.