Former prime minister Liz Truss loses seat to Labour

Terry Jermy ousted the former Conservative prime minister from her South West Norfolk seat.

Published Jul 5

Last updated Jul 5

Liz Truss has lost her seat to Labour in one of the biggest shocks of election night.

The former prime minister, who spent just 44 days in the top job, reflected on her party’s performance and claimed the Conservatives had not “delivered sufficiently on the policies people want”.

Asked whether she accepts some responsibility for that, Ms Truss said: “I was part of that. That’s absolutely true.

“But, during our 14 years in power, unfortunately we did not do enough to take on the legacy we’d been left, in particular things like the Human Rights Act that made it very difficult for us to deport illegal immigrants.

A dignitary stands to make the declaration of the poll for South West Norfolk with a series of candidates - Liz Truss is to the very right of the picture — Former prime minister Liz Truss has lost her South West Norfolk South West seat to Labour (Jacob King/PA)

Terry Jermy has become the MP for South West Norfolk with 11,847 votes, more than Ms Truss’s 11,217.

He overturned the 26,195 majority which the Tories secured in 2019 – a notional 27.85% swing to Labour.

The result means Rishi Sunak is the only prime minister from the last 14 years whose seat remains blue, after Labour took Uxbridge and South Ruislip and the Liberal Democrats took Witney, Maidenhead, and Henley and Thame.

Former prime minister Liz Truss is surrounded by media as she departs after losing her Norfolk South West seat to the Labour Party, at Alive Lynnsport in King’s Lynn, Norfolk — Former prime minister Liz Truss departs after losing her Norfolk South West seat to the Labour Party (Jacob King/PA)

The ex-prime minister was late to the declaration, with the crowd slow-clapping after seven other candidates had been on the stage for several minutes without her.