'Honour of my life' for Labour's Rosie Wrighting as she becomes Kettering's first female MP

The Labour candidate overcame a huge Conservative majority of almost 17,000 to defeat Philip Hollobone, who had been the constituency’s representative in Parliament since 2005.

She achieved 18,009 votes – just under 4,000 more than Mr Hollobone who haemorrhaged votes and picked up just 14,189, down from almost 30,000 in 2019.

Ms Wrighting, 26, said: "It’s an honour to represent Kettering but also to be a voice for young people in Parliament, and also to be the first female MP for Kettering.”

The results were announced at about 6.30am after a long night at Kettering Conference Centre, which saw the three north Northamptonshire seats declared in quick succession.

The first saw Labour’s Lee Barron named as Corby and East Northamptonshire’s new MP, quickly followed by Labour’s Gen Kitchen retaining the Wellingborough and Rushden seat she won at a by-election in February.

Kettering was the last seat at the count hall to declare and – with Ms Wrighting’s name the last to be read in surname alphabetical order – the tension built until she was finally named as the constituency’s next MP.

It was a good night for Labour – whose clean sweep in the north of the county added to two wins in Northampton and a landslide nationally – with encouraging results for Reform and the Green Party who finished third and fourth respectively.

Reform, the party led by Nigel Farage, picked up more than 8,000 votes while the Greens claimed just over 7,000 – more than four times their tally in 2019 – after a positive campaign by former mayor Emily Fedorowycz.

Ms Wrighting, who is from Geddington, said her first priority after winning is to have a sleep before starting work in the House of Commons on Monday.

She added that it was a dream come true and that it felt ‘amazing’ to win.

She said: "It’s just the absolute honour of my life to represent Kettering, represent the place I was born and represent the place I know needs change.

"We are thrilled with the results in Kettering, in north Northamptonshire and across the country as right now there’s a Labour government.”

Ms Wrighting, a former pupil of Bishop Stopford School and Montsaye Academy, said she’s looking forward to working with a Labour government to get the KGH rebuild over the line and that she will push North Northamptonshire Council to fill in potholes.

She added: "From the beginning we have been fighting for every vote in Kettering.

"As the campaign has gone along it became clear to us how much people were looking for change.”

In a speech after being defeated Mr Hollobone wished Ms Wrighting well and thanked his campaign team.

Full results:

Conservative - 14,189

Labour - 18,009

Green - 7,004

Reform - 8,468

Independent (Jim Hakewill) - 1,057

Lib Dem - 1,357

SDP - 85

ADF - 62