HISTORIC. That’s the only word for it. We have never seen the like in Cornwall. Those who couldn’t stay up to see the monumental defeat of the Tories will have awoken this morning to the news that Cornwall has four Labour MPs.

The tide has gone out on the sea of blue which rolled in at the last election, with the Liberal Democrats taking the two other Cornish seats from the Tories.

It’s clear from the drubbing all six of Cornwall’s Conservative MPs have received that voters are angry at the last 14 years of Tory rule and demand a change. Undoubtedly, the cost-of-living crisis, a serious lack of housing and the growing stink over sewage have all played a part in the striking results.

You have to go back to 1997 and the late Candy Atherton taking the former Falmouth and Camborne seat to find a Labour MP in Cornwall and she was the first for around 50 years. Now we have Redruth boy and former Oxfordshire councillor Perran Moon in Camborne and Redruth, Cornwall councillor Jayne Kirkham in Truro and Falmouth and Noah Law, a young Labour activist many people hadn’t heard of a couple of months ago, in St Austell and Newquay.

In South East Cornwall, an area where at times it looked most likely that long-established Conservative MP Sheryll Murray would be the only Tory left standing in Cornwall, conservation charity worker Anna Gelderd took the seat for Labour.

Steve Double, who has been the St Austell and Newquay Conservative MP since 2015, is out and retiring Camborne and Redruth MP George Eustice’s seat, which he has held since 2010, has gone from blue to red.

In St Ives, Andrew George returns to the seat he held between 1997 and 2015 with a resounding win for the Liberal Democrats against the former Conservative MP Derek Thomas, who had held the West Cornwall seat for the past nine years. Mr George received 25,033 votes to Mr Thomas’s 11,247 – a 19.18 per cent swing from Tory to Lib-Dem. Reform UK’s Giane Mortimer came third with 6,492 votes (13.50 per cent) and Labour’s Filson Ali came fourth with 2,788 votes (5.80 per cent).

In North Cornwall, Lib-Dem Ben Maguire beat Conservative MP and former postman Scott Mann, who had held the seat for the past nine years. Mr Maguire received 24,904 votes (47.84 per cent share), over 10,000 votes more than Mr Mann on 14,137 (27.16 per cent) - a 24.94 per cent swing from Tory to Lib-Dem. Reform came third with 8,444 votes (16.22 per cent) for Rowland O’Connor, while Robyn Harris (Labour) got 2,958 votes (5.68 per cent).

The first Cornish seat to be called was Camborne and Redruth. Perran Moon received 19,360 votes (a 40.51 per cent share), beating 27-year-old chip shop owner and Cornwall councillor Connor Donnithorne, who got 11,554 votes and a 24.18 per cent share - a 17.71 per cent swing from Tory to Labour. As part of the picture we are seeing nationally, Reform UK took significant numbers of votes – candidate Roger Tarrant, who came third, received more than double the votes of Lib-Dem Thalia Marrington.

In Truro and Falmouth, Labour’s Jayne Kirkham received 20,783 votes and a 41.35 per cent vote share, beating former Conservative MP Cherilyn Mackrory, who had held the seat since the last election in 2019. Mrs Mackrory gained 12,632 (25.13 per cent share) - a 12.15 per cent swing from Conservative to Labour. There was a tussle for third place between Lib-Dem Ruth Gripper (6,552 votes) and Reform’s Steve Rubidge (6,163 votes).

In St Austell and Newquay, Mr Double with 13,488 votes (28.86 per cent) was beaten by Mr Law with 15,958 votes (34.15 per cent) - a 17.11 per cent swing from blue to red. Reform’s Stephen Beal came third with 9,212 votes (19.71 per cent), beating Lib-Dem Joanna Kenny, on 4,805 votes, into fourth place.

At just before 7am, the final declaration was called for South East Cornwall. Anna Gelderd took it for Labour with 15,670 votes (31.79 per cent) against Sheryll Murray – who had held the seat for 14 years – who received 13,759 votes (27.92 per cent). Reform’s Paul Wadley gained 9,311 votes (18.89 per cent), with Lib-Dem candidate Colin Martin coming fourth with 8,284 votes (16.81 per cent).

The turnouts varied across the county – 75.25 per cent in Truro and Falmouth, 72.83 per cent in South East Cornwall, 70.11 per cent in Camborne and Redruth, 68.74 per cent in St Ives, 67.75 per cent in North Cornwall and 61.38 per cent in St Austell and Newquay.