Debbie gets the keys to the House

DEBBIE ABRAHAMS: in Commons today

Newly-elected MP Debbie Abrahams will later today be sworn in to the House of Commons amid cheers from Labour MPs.

The MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth will arrive for a photocall at the gates of Parliament with party leader Ed Miliband and other Labour MPs, having been given her security pass.

She will arrive in the Commons chamber at the start of public business sometime after 3.30pm.

Members of both Houses of Parliament are required by law to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown before they take their seats.

After making her pledge, Mrs Abrahams will shake hands with Commons Speaker John Bercow before leaving the chamber behind the Speaker’s chair and being allowed to re-enter as the new MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth.

The election on Thursday saw Mrs Abrahams triumph with 14,718 votes ahead of Lib-Dem candidate Elwyn Watkins on 11,160.

Tory candidate Kashif Ali polled only 4,481.

The Labour majority of 3,558 is now higher than the historic 1997 Labour landslide.

Oldham West and Royton MP Michael Meacher said: “This was an excellent result for Labour and the party.

“The turnout was down but the Labour vote increased and the people of Oldham East and Saddleworth gave a clear message to the new government.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg insisted it had been a “strong” showing by his party at what was a “challenging time” for the coalition.

“I think the strong result in this by-election for the Liberal Democrats shows that whether we are in government or in opposition, we remain a strong, united independent party whose values continue to attract support,” he said.




Election snippets



The UK Independence Party has made an official complaint about Lib-Dem election literature to Electoral Services at Oldham Council. UKIP candidate Paul Nuttall said the leaflets were designed to mislead local voters because they were in Oldham Council colours and didn’t say they were from a political party.



AN AMBULANCE was called to the polling station at Rushcroft Primary School, Shaw, during voting on Thursday, after a 25-year-old woman suffered a fit. She was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital.



Dave Bishop, the Buss Pass Elvis candidate, lost his campaign placard, and is appealing for help to get it back. Dave, from Nottingham, believes he may have left it on a bus.