Fabian Hamilton arrives at count
Veteran MP Fabian Hamilton has arrived at the count in Leeds.
The Labour MP has been in politics since 1997.
If a recent YouGov poll is correct, he can expect to win a comfortable majority in Leeds North East.
The Labour MP has been in politics since 1997.
If a recent YouGov poll is correct, he can expect to win a comfortable majority in Leeds North East.
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00:00Fabian Hamilton you're the MP standing for re-election in Leeds North East, how
00:05are you feeling tonight? We've just had the exit poll that's predicting a
00:09Labour landslide, there must be a lot of optimism for you.
00:12Yes I mean it's been reflected on the doorstep throughout the campaign, we've
00:15had a lot of very strong support because this is my ninth election as candidate,
00:19hopefully my eighth victory and I'm the longest-serving MP in Leeds if I win
00:24tonight. But yes we're optimistic, it's good news for the Labour Party and I
00:29think much more important is the seats that we were hoping to win nationwide,
00:33the ones we actually do win that give us a majority in Parliament. So you know I'd
00:39hope we win North East Leeds but we want it when we're at our lowest ebb. So if
00:44we start winning seats that we've not won before that's going to mean the
00:47difference between not winning and winning an overall majority. When the
00:52polls are as they are and with this exit poll being so in favour of a Labour
00:57majority, does that breed complacency at all? No we've been very careful not to be
01:02complacent and I think for all politicians you must never take the
01:06electorate for granted. One of the things I've learnt in the 27 years that I've
01:10served so far is that if you start taking the electorate for granted and you
01:14start assuming things then that's the road to disaster. You've got to
01:18constantly be talking to your electors and making sure that they know you're
01:23serving them and not your own career. What can the people of Leeds North East
01:29expect if you're re-elected? What will be your focus? Well a number of focuses. I
01:34think firstly local transport. I'll double down on that. Obviously we were
01:39making some progress before the election at last. There are various campaigns
01:43I've taken up on predatory marriage, on the abuse of lasting power of attorney
01:47which I now hope will be successful with a Labour government. We were struggling a
01:52bit with the last government even though there were non-political issues.
01:54I think the Health Service, Chapel Alaston Hospital of course. It was agreed
02:00it could have a huge extension, a huge extra building. That was cut by the
02:05current Conservative government. I'm hoping that Labour will restore that
02:09because the patients in my constituency desperately need that hospital as they
02:13do throughout Leeds. Thank you very much.