Labour has turned the blue Burnley seat back to red in the 2024 General Elections.

We spoke to Oliver Ryan, the new Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield MP, after he was declared the winning candidate at the count at Life Church earlier this morning.

“I’m very excited to start the work, to hopefully get down to Westminster as soon as possible and fight the fight for Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield.

“People voted for change after 14 years of the Conservatives, we made a promise to deliver that change on public services, the NHS, and the cost of living crisis, and my job is to go make sure it’s delivered for Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield. So I aim to do just that and be the strong voice that I’ve promised people I will be.”

placeholder image — Labour's Oliver Ryan.

Departing MP Antony Higginbotham, who came third with 8,058 votes, also reflected on the past four and a half years after making history in 2019 by becoming the town’s first Conservative Member of Parliament in more than a century.

"It’s been the biggest honour of my life to be the Member of Parliament for the place I call home, and it’s fair to say the last four and a half years have been anything but easy. I never expected to deal with a global pandemic, an energy crisis or see war return in Europe but I think residents can see that despite those challenging headwinds, my focus has always been Burnley and Padiham and our villages and trying to put the Westminster bubble to one side and deliver things for local people. We’ve done important local work at the same time that we’ve had to deal with some pretty big challenges.”

Burnley has seen its lowest voter turnout in the past five general elections. Some 53.2% of residents in Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield cast their ballot on Thursday. It is the first time turnout has dropped below 60% since 2010.