Greens take seat from Conservatives in North Herefordshire

The Green Party has taken the North Herefordshire seat from the Conservatives.

The seat, which was previously Leominster, has always been considered safe by the tories - but during election campaigning the greens classed it as one of four key targets.

In 2019 Conservative candidate Sir Bill Wiggin secured a majority of almost 25,000 - with the Green Party coming fourth.

This time Green candidate Ellie Chowns received 21,736 votes, while Conservative candidate Wiggin received 15,842.

Chowns says key issues that came up during doorstep campaigning were those of public service funding, such as the NHS and road repairs.

Speaking after the result Chowns said: “I am absolutely delighted, honoured and humbled to have been elected as the first ever Green MP for North Herefordshire.

“Thank you so much to every single voter who has put their trust in me. I promise to work my socks off for you, to take your concerns to Westminster, to serve you locally, and to do everything I can to be a champion for our wonderful constituency. She went on to thank everyone in the area who took the time to vote, saying "real change is possible", adding there is an "enormous amount of work to do" to renew the economy, repair the NHS and restore rivers.

"I am ready to roll my sleeves up and give this job everything I’ve got, and I can’t wait to get started", she added.

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