The Labour Party made gains in Northamptonshire in the 2024 general election, with the party gaining five seats in the county.
Labour gained the Northampton South, Northampton North, Wellingborough and Rushden, Kettering and Corby and East Northamptonshire seats, with all 5 seats having been ones the Conservatives had won in 2019.
The Tories held on to continue to hold the constituencies of two Northamptonshire MP’s, with the party winning the respective elections in Daventry and South Northamptonshire.
All 5 of the seats Labour won had been targets before the election, with the party winning a majority in the House of Commons for the first time since 2005.
County town Northampton elected Labour MP’s, with Mike Reader named the new MP for Northampton South and Lucy Rigby elected Northampton North.
Reader’s seat was the first to be declared, with the Labour candidate winning 16,801 votes. He edged out the Tory candidate and previous MP Andrew Lewer, who had 12,819 votes. Lewer leaves Parliament after 7 years in the seat.
Reform UK’s Tony Owens came third on 8,210 votes, followed by Jill Hope of the Liberal Democrats on 3,193, Simon Sneddon of the Greens with 2,398, TUSC candidate Katie Simpson with 296 and Penelope Lucy Toillitt who picked up 98 votes for the Climate Party.
As for Northampton North, Rigby won 18,209 votes to pick up the seat. She took a seat previously held by Conservative candidate Michael Ellis, who opted not to stand for re-election.
The Tory candidate Dan Bennett picked up 9,195 votes as the runner-up, followed by Reform UK’s Antony Antoniou on 7,010, Green Party candidate Eishar Kaur Bassan on 2,558, Chris Leggett of the Lib Dems with 2,251, Worker’s Party candidate Khalid Razzaq with 1,531 and independent candidate Paul Clark with 1,059.
Wellingborough and Rushden will again be represented by Gen Kitchen, who had won the seat in a by-election earlier this year after long-standing former MP Peter Bone was forced to resign. Labour candidate Kitchen collected 17,754 votes to pick up the seat for a full term, edging out Tory candidate David Goss, who picked up 12,248 votes.
Reform were third as Ben Habib picked up 9,456 votes, followed by Green Party candidate Paul Mannion on 2,704, Christopher Townsend of the Lib Dems on 1,570 and Jeremy Brittin of the SDP with 273.
In Kettering, Labour’s Rosie Wrighting picked up 18,009 votes as the party won the seat for the first time since 2001. She beat Phillip Holobone, who had held the seat since the Conservatives won the seat off Labour in 2005, and who finished second with 14,189 votes.
Crispian Besley of Reform picked up 8,468 votes to finish third, with Emily Fedorowycz of the Greens in fourth on 7,004 votes. Sarah Ryan of the Lib Dems had 1,357 votes, then came independent candidate Jim Hakewill on 1,057, Matthew Murphy of the SDP with 85 and Jehad Soliman Aburamadan of the Alliance of Democracy and Freedom with 62.
Lee Barron was elected as the Labour MP for the district of Corby and East Northamptonshire, with Barron picking up 21,020 votes. He defeated former minister and Conservative MP Tom Pursglove, who had held the seat since 2015 and who finished on 14,689 votes.
Edward McDonald of Reform was third with 8,760 votes, followed by Lee Forster of the Greens with 2,507, Chris Lofts of the Lib Dems with 2,191 and independent candidate Karen Blott with 422 votes.
While Labour picked up five of Northamptonshire’s seven seats at the final count in Daventry on Thursday (04/07), the Conservatives retained two seats as they held on to the Daventry and South Northamptonshire seats.
Sarah Bool was named MP for the Conservatives for South Northamptonshire, succeeding former Minister and one-time Tory leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom, who elected not to run again.
The Tories secured 19,191 votes, enough for Bool to beat Labour candidate Rufia Ashraf, who scored 15,504.
Reform UK were third, with Paul Hogan securing 8,962 votes. Stewart Tolley of the Liberal Democrats picked up 4,989, Emmie Williamson of the Greens had 3,040, Ian McCord picked up 1,556 votes, Mick Stott of the Workers Party received 246 votes and independent candidate Stuart Robert picked up 209.
Meanwhile, in Daventry, Stuart Andrew was elected as the Conservative MP for the seat with 17,872 votes. He succeeds Chris Heaton-Harris, who also opted against running for re-election.
Marianne Kimani was the runner-up, with the Labour candidate picking up 14,680 votes. Scott Cameron of Reform UK was third with 10,636 votes, Jonathan Harris of the Liberal Democrats was fourth with 6,755, and Clare Slater of the Greens received 2,959.
Northampton Town have made their fourth signing in as many days with the arrival of midfielder Cameron McGeehan.
The Northern Irishman has signed a two year contract to sign for the Cobblers, with the 29-year-old rejecting a new deal with previous club Colchester United to move to Sixfields.
McGeehan joins James Wilson, Nik Tzanev and Callum Morton in joining Jon Brady’s side as they prepare for a second season in League One.
After starting out in the academy of Norwich City, McGeehan had two successful loans with Luton Town before joining the Hatters on a permanent basis in 2015. In all, McGeehan scored 28 goals in 88 appearances in his time with the club.
McGeehan left Luton to join Barnsley in 2017, helping the Tykes win promotion in the 2018/19 season in the process. He also had time out on loan from Oakwell with Scunthorpe United and Portsmouth.
After 3 years in Belgium with Oostend, McGeehan returned to England to join Colchester, scoring 10 in 39 for the Essex club last season.
McGeehan has also received international recognition, making a cap for the Northern Ireland team.
Cobblers boss Jon Brady praised his new arrival as an option who would fit in well with his project.
He said, “Cam is another player who really suits our style.
“He has had a lot of interest in his services this summer from a number of clubs and there has been a fair bit of media speculation about his future and I am delighted we have been able to bring him to Sixfields.
“Cam is an attacking midfielder who is very competitive, he sets the tempo high and he plays with a lot of energy and power. He works well both on and off the ball and we think he is a really good fit for us.
“He has the pedigree of playing at a number of different levels and he has a quality about his play that I think supporters will enjoy watching.
“We believe Cam can be a good signing for us, he played a lot of football last season and he is eager to get started with us.”
The Labour Party will represent all 3 seats that cover Milton Keynes in the next Parliament after their candidates won in the election.
In Milton Keynes’ first election with 3 MPs, Labour candidates Callum Anderson, Chris Curtis and Emily Darlington were the winners, with Anderson winning the Buckingham and Bletchley seat, Curtis in the MK North ballot and Darlington elected MP for Milton Keynes Central.
The results are the first time that Labour has won any Parliamentary seat in Milton Keynes since 2005, and comes in the year the party also won a majority of seats on Milton Keynes City Council.
The result also means that incumbent Conservative MPs Iain Stewart and Ben Everitt will leave Westminster. Stewart had spent 14 years representing Milton Keynes, having first won election to the then-new Milton Keynes South constituency in 2010, while Everitt replaced former incumbent Mark Lancaster at the last election in 2019.
This was Milton Keynes’ first election with three MPs as per boundary reviews since the last election in 2019. The existing Milton Keynes North remained a named constituency but with revised boundaries, while South was replaced with some areas merged with Buckingham to make the Buckingham and Bletchley seat and other parts made into a new seat called Milton Keynes Central.
On a night that saw Labour win a nationwide majority in a Parliamentary election for the first time since 2005, all 3 results in Milton Keynes would see a Labour candidate win, with a Conservative as runner-up, Reform UK candidate in third and Liberal Democrat in fourth.
The Buckingham and Bletchley seat was the first to declare a final result just before 3:20am and was the closest of the three, with Labour candidate Anderson beating sitting MP Stewart by less than 2,500 votes. Anderson recorded 17,602 votes, just ahead of Stewart’s 15,181.
Reform’s Jordan Cattell was next with 7,468 votes, followed by Liberal Democrat candidate Dominic Dyer on 4,300, Amanda Onwuemene of the Greens with 2,590 and independent Ray Brady, who picked up 500 votes. Turnout was 63.94%.
Next to announce a result was the Milton Keynes North constituency, who declared a result at 3:40am. The results in this seat saw Curtis beat incumbent Tory MP Everitt. Labour picked up 19,318 votes, just over 5,000 more than the 13,888 picked up by Everitt and the Tories.
Reform’s Jane Anne Duckworth was third on 6,164, with the Lib Dem’s Clare Tevlin recording 3,365 votes and the Green’s Alan Francis receiving 3,242 votes. Turnout was 65.28%.
The final seat declared was the new Milton Keynes Central constituency, which announced their results just after 3:50am.
Labour candidate Darlington will be the first MP for this constituency after she received 20,209 votes. She finished ahead of the Conservative candidate Johnny Luk, who scored 12,918, for a majority of just over 7,200.
David Reilly of Reform UK secured 6,245 votes, followed by Liberal Democrat candidate James Cox with 4,931. Frances Bonney of the Greens finished fifth on 3,226 votes, while Alfred Saint-Clair of the Heritage Party had 200 votes. Turnout was 59.12%.
MK Dons have announced former Premier League midfielder Tom Carroll as their eighth signing of the summer transfer window.
Carroll, formerly of Spurs and Swansea, will join the Dons on a free transfer after turning down a contract extension with League One side Exeter City.
The 32-year-old midfielder has signed a contract of undisclosed length with the Dons, and is the team’s second signing in as many days after the arrival of Liam Kelly from Crawley yesterday.
Carroll began his professional career with Spurs, where he made 56 appearances in all competitions, 30 of which came as Spurs finished second in the Premier League in the 2015/16 season.
The midfielder also enjoyed loan spells with Leyton Orient, Derby, QPR and Swansea, before joining Swansea on a permanent basis in 2017.
After spells with QPR and Ipswich, Carroll had a busy season with Exeter last season, making 45 first team appearances in all competitions for the Grecians last season.
Carroll told the official MK Dons website that he was impressed with Head Coach Mike Williamson’s plans of how he wants the team to play, and he felt he had made the right move to try and help the team to promotion next season.
He said, “I spoke to the manager, and I think we see football in a very similar way, I think the style of play is going to suit me and the group that the staff are getting together looks like it’s going to be really strong.
“Hopefully, we can have a good season, and there’s no hiding away from the end goal which is promotion.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play here a couple of times, but when you walk out there you realise how much potential this Club has. I’m looking forward to it and seeing the fans.
“Hopefully, we can put in some good performances, and it will be special year come the end of it.”
Luton Town have announced they will play a six game schedule in pre-season, while the Hatters have also received notification of 5 games being broadcast on TV.
Between 13th July and 3rd August, Luton will start their programme of pre-season friendlies against Danish side Aarhus in a game behind closed doors at their training ground The Brache, before they play two friendlies behind closed doors in a training camp in Slovenia against Ukrainian outfit Rukh Lviv and Göztepe of Turkey.
Rob Edwards’ side will then play an away game against Dundee United in Scotland on 26th July, before a designated Luton Town 11 comprising reserve and first team players will travel to play League Two side Port Vale on 30th July.
The Hatters’ final pre-season friendly will see Luton host La Liga side Celta Vigo to Kenilworth Road on Saturday 3rd August. Luton have confirmed tickets to the game will be made available from 15th July, with a specific ticket plan to be announced in due course.
Luton will stream the games against Aarhus, Rukh Lviv, Göztepe and Celta Vigo on their LTFC+ streaming platform, while Dundee United will do a similar streaming arrangement for the game against Luton.
Meanwhile, Luton will have five of their Championship matches in August and September 2024 broadcast by Sky Sports in the UK.
The Hatters’ opening game against Burnley had already been selected for broadcast, with Sky broadcasting all EFL games on the opening weekend, but Luton’s games against Portsmouth, QPR, Millwall and Plymouth will also now be moved from their original slots for live TV coverage.
Luton’s game at last season’s League One winners Portsmouth will be a 12:30pm kick-off on Saturday August 17th, while their home game against QPR has been moved to being an 8pm kick-off on Friday August 30th.
The other two games to be moved will be the Hatters’ trip to play Millwall, which will be a 12:30pm kick-off on Saturday 14th September, and Luton’s trip to Plymouth, which will now take place on Friday 27th September as an 8pm kick-off.
Luton’s games against Preston on 24th August and Sheffield Wednesday on 21st September will remain in Saturday 3pm kick-off slots.
