Veteran Sheffield MP Clive Betts has retained his seat in the general election, sweeping to victory with a huge majority from 18,710 votes.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I, Jane Doe, being a returning officer of the Sheffield South East constituency, at the election held on the 4th of July, 2024, do hereby declare that the total number of votes cast across Sheffield South East at the UK parliamentary election was 36,500 votes.
00:30The total number of votes given to each candidate was as follows.
01:00Caroline Camila, the Conservative Party candidate, 6,242.
01:09Matthew Meese, Social Democratic Party, 1,061.
01:16Hannah Kate Nicklin, Green Party, 3,158.
01:24Misafir Rahman, Workers' Party, 1,453.
01:32Sophie Jane Thornton, Liberal Democrats, 3,421.
01:42The total number of ballot papers rejected was 796.
01:49Therefore, I give notice that Clive Burks is duly elected as the Member of Parliament of the Sheffield South East constituency.
01:58I would like to be the first to offer my congratulations to Clive and invite him to give a short speech.
02:04Clive Burks, Member of Parliament of the Sheffield South East constituency
02:34Clive Burks, Member of Parliament of the Sheffield South East constituency
03:04Clive Burks, Member of Parliament of the Sheffield South East constituency
03:34Finally, I want to thank my constituents, all those who voted for me on this occasion.
03:41The ninth time I've been elected as Member of Parliament for this constituency.
03:46It's a real honour and a privilege to be here.
03:50I've been here before on nights for great Labour dance nights. It's a wonderful feeling.
03:551997, 2001. I hasten to add, not 1945, we've got many more minutes.
04:04But it's been a great victory for the Labour Party nationally.
04:09But nevertheless, in some ways, the hard work, though we've worked really hard in the last few weeks, seven years, the hard work begins now.
04:17We have a mandate, and a mandate with great challenges.
04:20A country with national finances, because of the previous government, in a great mess.
04:27A country with public services that simply do not work.
04:31And three issues in this campaign I want to reflect on.
04:35One, I think, is the despair of so many voters.
04:39They feel that nothing can be done.
04:42Things are so bad, that whatever you do, whatever you vote for, nothing can really change.
04:47We've got to show that that isn't true.
04:51We've got to give people their hope back once again.
04:54And the second issue, and I commend Atkinson for having raised it, is Palestine and Gaza.
05:01A real strong feeling to have that in our community.
05:05The Palestinian people have suffered for far too long.
05:09For 80 years they've been without a state.
05:11For years and years, the international community have allowed Israel to illegally occupy the West Bank and Gaza.
05:21We have to change that.
05:23One of the first things I want the Labour government to do in our press-registration way is to see a Palestinian state recognized,
05:30so that the Palestinian people can have a real say in their own future for the first time.
05:36And the final issue, and another major challenge, is let's put behind us the failed attempt at levelling up.
05:45There were tokens.
05:47We need a government now, our Labour government, that develops a proper strategy for dealing with the inequalities between the different parts of our country.
05:58A government that wants to work with local mayors and local councils,
06:02not just the mayors but the councils as well, to give real power, real devolution down to local areas.
06:10And not just the powers, but the resources to go with it.
06:14If we really are going to get our country growing again, it has to be growing right across the country, not between some parts of the country.
06:22So that's another major challenge for our government.
06:24What I want to say is, I know that my other colleague MPs elected, including after Sam and Marie for the first time tonight,
06:32we all work together on behalf of our city.
06:35We want to deliver that devolution, we want to deliver that real change, real hope and real regeneration to our city and the rest of the world.
06:45Thank you very much. That's the major challenge. I hope you're up for it.