Labour's Sadik Al-Hassan defeats Liam Fox in North Somerset - ending 100 years of Tory rule

Labour have secured a seismic victory as Sadik Al-Hassan won the North Somerset seat from veteran MP Liam Fox.

Mr Al-Hassan received 19,138 votes, ending Liam Fox's tenure of over 30 years as MP.

The news comes as Labour won an historic General Election victory with Sir Keir Starmer set to form a new government.

In his victory speech, Mr Al-Hassan thanked his supporters before saying that his election shows "there is no such thing as a safe seat".

Dr Liam Fox has been the MP for North Somerset since before the constituency existed by that name.

He was first elected as the Conservative MP for Woodspring in 1992, four years before North Somerset Council was established and 18 years before the constituency changed its name to follow suit.

How does this compare to the 2019 results?

In 2019, Sir Liam received almost 33,000 votes — over 50% of the vote.

Meanwhile Labour scooped 15,000, with the Liberal Democrats' Ash Cartman — who stood again this year — on 11,000, and the Greens on 3,000.

Who is Sadik Al-Hassan?

Mr Al-Hassan lives in Emersons Green, on the opposite side of Bristol and works in Cribbs Causeway.

A pharmacist, he is superintendent of online pharmacy PillTime with around 100 patients in North Somerset.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said: “I have been out on the doorsteps for the last six and a half months getting to know the area and the patch.

"And I care about what happens to the residents and the story they tell me is heartbreaking.

“I have talked to people who work in the NHS who have waited over 89 weeks for an appointment.

"I have had people who have had two years wait for a dental treatment because they couldn’t get an NHS dentist, they are living in pain for two years and ended up having emergency treatment.

“The reason I got into politics is to help make those kind of situations right. It’s the same as being a pharmacist; all I want to do is help the community and help improve people’s lives.”

What is his number one issue?

He said: “Trying to make sure that we have access to the public services we need where we need them.

"If you go down the high street you will notice there’s less banks, less pharmacies, more food banks.

"This is a growing problem across the country but North Somerset has been hit particularly hard.”

He added: “We have lost pharmacy after pharmacy in North Somerset, the latest being that Boots that closed on [Portishead] High Street.

"There isn’t enough capacity for pharmacy to be this panacea for the NHS if we don’t have more. And the same goes for dentists."

He said he had met with Avon Local Pharmaceutical Committee and Community Pharmacy England to discuss the challenges faced in North Somerset, and had worked with the teams at the Day Lewis Pharmacy in Nailsea, the West Hill Pharmacy in Portishead and, in the past, at the Well Pharmacy in Clevedon.

He said Labour was looking at an “innovative” community pharmacy prescribing service to help take the pressure off GPs, but added: “The solution needs to be funded in a way that works for pharmacy.”

He added that a “shocking” one in 12 children in North Somerset were in poverty, mainly from households in work. He said: “It’s not the thing that a developed rich nation can be proud of.”

He said he was speaking to Citizens Advice around how more people could be better signposted to services but, asked about why Labour would not commit to scrapping the two-child benefit cap, he said: “We are limited in what we can deliver. We have to be realistic.”

He added: “This is probably one of the most realistic manifestos I have seen in my lifetime because it is actually what we are able to deliver.

"And things may go better than we think. We could get the growth we really need as a county and maybe be able to do more. But this is what we need to do immediately and what we can do with the resources we have got.”

Mr Al-Hassan said: “Over the last 14 years we have almost created a lost generation of young people who haven’t been given the support and opportunities to thrive.”

He said he wanted more support from mental health support in schools, free school meals, careers advice, and the right employment in North Somerset.

He added: “Also, I want to help them be able to afford their first home. I want to back their mortgage so that they can get that home they need in the area because I want to make sure we build homes in North Somerset so they don’t have to move to Bristol or Weston.”

Labour plans to change the planning rules — specifically allowing poor quality “grey belt” land in the green belt to be built on — to boost new homes.

Mr Al-Hassan said: “We were the party that created the green belt. We believe in preserving our environment. But we don’t believe in preserving grey belt land which is under the mask of it being biodiverse.”

He insisted: “We are the party who will conserve the green belt. Unlike the Conservatives who have allowed it to be sold off and parcelled.”

Credit: John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service.