General Election: Former Oxford councillor wins in Bournemouth

Tom Hayes was elected to be the member of parliament for Bournemouth East, beating previous Conservative incumbent Tobias Ellwood, 18,316 votes to 12,837.

Mr Hayes said the result was "phenomenal".

READ MORE: 'Invisible' Oxford councillor resigns seat for Bournemouth

The former councillor of the St Clement's ward in Oxford, stepped down from the city council two months before the local elections in May having served as a councillor for 10 years.

This was so he could focus his attentions on becoming an MP in Bournemouth which has proven to be successful after the General Election results were announced on Friday morning.

It comes after flyers circulated in St Clement's at the time Mr Hayes was diverting his attention to Bournemouth with the headline 'where's Tom?'.

Theo Hopkins, who lives in St Clement's, said: "This man was significantly absent from the St Clement's ward in East Oxford for a long time while he sloped off to Bournemouth to run his campaign to be an MP.

"As a St Clement's resident I was none too happy about this." 

But Mr Hayes told us that his missed attendances were "owing to Covid and a very sad bereavement".

This flyer was circulated at the time Mr Hayes resigned in St Clement's, Oxford (Image: Noor Qurashi)

Speaking after winning the Bournemouth East seat, Mr Hayes said: “I’m really pleased with it, and I think it shows the people of Bournemouth want change.

“They have responded to a campaign that has been active for many, many months, we’ve knocked on lots of doors, had lots of conversations, and we’ve promised that we won’t let people down, that were listening and that we want to do right by our town.

“It’s great to have the honour to be Bournemouth’s first Labour MP.”

Mr Hayes said his first step would be to set up his office ‘in the heart of the constituency’, recruiting local people to help with issues they face.

“Being able to represent Bournemouth East in parliament, fighting our corner for investment and attention, because the town desperately needs both,” he said.

“We ran a really hopeful, positive campaign.

“We talked about our plan, we talked about the hopes of people locally, and that is exactly how we will govern here in Bournemouth East.

“We will be taking the positive steps forward to rebuild our town, particularly our town centre, and get the best for Bournemouth.”

Mr Hayes also thanked his predecessor in the role, Conservative Tobias Ellwood.

“I just want to thank him for his time in parliament, representing Bournemouth East,” Mr Hayes said.

“I wish him well, and I wish his family well. I would be very happy to get advice from him about how to do the role of MP in the future.”

Tom Hayes celebrates his win in Bournemouth (Image: Richard Crease)

Mr Hayes was praised by Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown after he resigned in March. 

She said: "Tom has been a hard-working councillor and a passionate advocate of a green agenda designed to improve the health of our city and making it a cleaner and more pleasant place to live.

"He led the creation of the first Citizen’s Assembly on Climate Change in the UK in 2019 and worked hard with the county council to get the zero emission policies off the ground."

Across Bournemouth, Jessica Toale was the first Labour Party candidate to be elected in Bournemouth West, meaning Bournemouth will have two Labour MPs. 

The full results in Bournemouth East:

Tobias Ellwood (Con) 1,2837

Tom Hayes (Lab) 18,316 ELECTED

Martin James Houlden (Ref) 6,268

Jon Martin Nicholas (LD) 3,082

Miles Penn (SDP) 88

Joe Angus Salmon (Grn) 2,790

Kieron Wilson (Ind) 1,529