In a disastrous night for the Labour Party, Muslim MP Yasmin Qureshi claimed victory on Thursday night, allowing Labour to hold on Bolton South East seat, Mancunian Matters reported.
Holding the seat since 2010, the former barrister won with 21,516 votes, while the Conservative candidate Johno Lee, finished second with 13,981 votes.
“I think it’s sad. Not just because the Labour Party and great MPs have lost their seats, but also because a lot of the people who are worst affected by nine years of austerity under the Conservatives are the ones that are going to suffer the most in the next five years,” Qureshi said.
Moreover, she expressed disappointment about fellow Labour MP, Sir David Crausby, losing his seat after 22 years representing Bolton North East.
“David was a really hard-working member of parliament and has been for a long time,” she said.
“It’s a shame that Brexit was an issue that seems to have gotten in the way.
“It was an issue that came upon the doorstep with quite a lot of Labour voters, who have rooted for the Conservatives because they were promised Brexit.
“A lot of people who have voted for them have gone against their own interests.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have won 364 seats — 47 more than they won in the last election, in 2017, with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party winning 203 seats, down 59 from the previous vote, in its worst showing since 1935.
Qureshi blamed Labour’s defeat on Brexit, a ‘dishonest campaign’ run by the opposition and personal attacks by ‘hard right-wing newspapers’ which vilified Jeremy Corbyn.
She believes what is next for the party is for it to “re-evaluate its policies, programs, and messages.”