General Election 2024: Redcar's Levelling up minister Jacob Young loses seat to Labour's Anna Turley

Levelling up minister Jacob Young has lost his seat in Redcar.

He was beaten into second place by his predecessor Anna Turley in a reversal of the 2019 election result, when Redcar saw the largest Labour majority overturned by the Conservatives.

Ms Turley, who was MP for Redcar between 2015-2019, said: "It's a bit overwhelming at the moment. We've been so focussed on the campaign and on chatting to people and suddenly here we are and what could be a fantastic night for the Labour party.

"Really excited about the prospect of having a Labour government and delighted to be once again representing the people of Redcar."

Redcar was where the Conservatives chose to launch their election battle bus on 2 June.

At the time Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited the town to campaign with Mr Young, with the pair buying fish and chips.

Mr Young said: "I've spent the last six weeks knocking on doors and speaking to people. I know people are frustrated at the way the Government has been over the last few years.

"I did hope my personal record locally might be enough to carry me through but democracy is unpredictable. That's part of the ebbs and flows that we get. It's disappointing but I congratulate Anna on her success."

He added: "I think when you look at the huge investments that we're making in Teesside, whether that's the £25m Town Deal for Redcar, the £20m that's going into Eston, all of the investment that's happening at our free port - I think that's levelling up in action.

"People might not necessarily see that right away but in the years and decades ahead that's going to have a real long-lasting impact on the people of Redcar and Cleveland."

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