Labour gained more than 30 of the seats it identified as being ‘non-battlegrounds’ at the general election, LabourList analysis has revealed – with the party winning constituencies that had previously had Tory majorities of more than 20,000 votes.
The party published a list of 211 so-called ‘non-battlegrounds’ seats in December last year. LabourList revealed early in the election campaign that 11 of the seats were later listed as ‘battleground areas’ on the party’s volunteer website though, suggesting a change in strategy in those areas.
Analysis by LabourList of the election results has revealed that Labour won 33 of the seats it had initially labelled as ‘non-battlegrounds’ – including ten of the 11 seats later re-classified as ‘battleground areas’.
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Labour’s ‘non-battleground’ gains included South West Norfolk, the seat of former Prime Minister Liz Truss, which was won by Labour’s Terry Jermy, overturning Truss’ huge 26,195-vote majority.
Labour also succeeded in unseating former cabinet ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg in North East Somerset and Hanham and Penny Mordaunt in Portsmouth North, who commanded majorities of 14,729 and 15,780 respectively.
Its ‘non-battlegrounds’ gains also included Suffolk Coastal – which under previous constituency boundaries was won in 2019 by former cabinet minister Therese Coffey with a majority of 20,533 votes – and Poole, which the Tories won with a majority of 19,116 at the last election.
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Notable among the gains were a number of seats covering areas that Labour has never previously represented, including Ashford, Aylesbury, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket and Weston-super-Mare.
The party also won Dartford, seeing the seat continue its status as the country’s longest-running bellwether. The seat has been won by the party that went on to form the government at every election since 1964 – a trend continued with Labour candidate Jim Dickson’s victory at this election.
The 33 ‘non-battleground’ seats gained by Labour
- Ashford
- Aylesbury
- Bexleyheath and Crayford
- Bracknell
- Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
- Chatham and Aylesford
- Congleton
- Dartford
- Derbyshire Dales
- Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
- Folkestone and Hythe
- Forest of Dean
- Hertford and Stortford
- Isle of Wight West
- Lichfield
- Mid Derbyshire
- North East Hertfordshire
- North East Somerset and Hanham
- North Northumberland
- North Somerset
- North West Cambridgeshire
- Poole
- Portsmouth North
- Reading West and Mid Berkshire
- Ribble Valley
- Sittingbourne and Sheppey
- South Dorset
- South East Cornwall
- South Norfolk
- South West Norfolk
- St Austell and Newquay
- Suffolk Coastal
- Weston-super-Mare
Read more of our 2024 general election coverage:
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Finchley and Golders Green: Can Labour win back Britain’s most Jewish seat?
Small boats and Tory mutineers: Can veteran Mike Tapp win Dover and Deal?
East Thanet: Inside the battle for coastal ex-UKIP stronghold not won since 2005
Sheffield Hallam: ‘Can Labour’s Olivia Blake hold on in Nick Clegg’s old seat?’
Battle of the bar charts in Wimbledon: Inside a rare election three-horse race
Could Labour take ‘non-battleground’ Tory seats across the South West?
Meet NHS doctor Zubir Ahmed, fighting one of Scotland’s tightest marginals
Brighton Pavilion: As Starmer visits, can Labour win the Greens’ one seat?
Labour wants a new generation of new towns. Can it win in Milton Keynes?
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