Shock as Danczuk beats Rowen

Simon Danczuk with his partner Karen Burke as his victorious result is declared

Labour’s Simon Danczuk caused a big upset winning the Rochdale seat by 889 votes, a victory which saw pre-election favourite Lib Dem Paul Rowen defeated after five years as the town’s MP.

As the results were announced at 4.00am today (7 May), Mr Danczuk took to the stage, thanking those voters who had “faith in the Labour party to deliver.” He congratulated the electorate for “restoring democracy” in Rochdale, and expressed particular gratitude to the Labour Party and his partner, Ms Karen Burke, who supported him “tirelessly”. He added: “Rochdale has voted for a change”, and emphasised that Labour is a party that will “listen to its people”. Declaring himself to be a man of “action”, the new MP insisted that he was a “champion for Rochdale”, with a pledge to “renew” and “rebuild”.

Mr Danczuk refused to be interviewed by Rochdale Online.

A devastated Paul Rowen expressed his appreciation to his former constituents, who had “allowed him to serve” in the House of Commons. He commented: “Rochdale hasn’t been treated well by Labour,” and added “we will see in months to come.”

The Conservative Party doubled its votes from the previous General Election to 8,305, a significant improvement. Mudasir Dean, the Conservative candidate, told Rochdale Online this was due to the fact that his campaign focus was throughout the borough. Mr  Dean said: “thank you to the people of Rochdale for voting”, and reserved praise for “the staff involved, my team without whose support this would not have been possible.”

Labour were up 654 votes from 2005 to 16,345, while the Lib Dems lost 997 votes from five years ago, dropping to 15, 810.

Chris Jackson, of National Front, obtained 2,236 votes, UKIP’s John Denby just trailing him with 1,999. Mohammed Salim, standing for Islam Zinda Baad, received 545 votes, with independent campaigner John Whitehead securing the least amount, at 313.

The 58.5% turnout in Rochdale was almost identical to that of five years ago, when 58.4% of those eligible to vote went to the ballot box.