Bolton’s Yasmin Qureshi celebrated “the best birthday ever” with an election win that returned her and her colleagues to government after 14 years.

Ms Qureshi was elected as MP for the newly redrawn Bolton South and Walkden constituency with a total of more than 15,000 votes.

She described the result as the "best birthday ever" but had warned before the results were declared that challenges lay ahead.

Ms Qureshi said: “Well obviously I’m delighted that it looks as if Labour will be forming the next government.

“Obviously we are going to need to the final result but it does look as if we are going to be forming the government.

Yasmin Qureshi delivering her winning speechYasmin Qureshi delivering her winning speech (Image: Phil Taylor)

“Of course its going to be a huge challenge because the country has put its faith in our party to deliver a change, a change for the better.

“We’ve seen 14 years of Conservative mismanagement of our country, our economy, and the very fabric of out society and life.

“And therefore I think its going to be huge and there’s going to be a lot of expectations on us and I very much hope that we will live up to that expectation.”

Ms Qureshi was first elected as MP for Bolton South East in 2010, replacing the outgoing Brian Iddon.

In the most recent election the boundaries had been redrawn to include parts of Salford to form the Bolton South and Walkden constituency.

Ms Qureshi finished with a total of 15,093 votes, more than 6,000 ahead of her nearest rival Julie Pattison of Reform UK, who finished with 8,350.

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Conservative candidate Mohammed Afzal polled 4,170, while Liberal Democrat Gemma Bowker finished the night with 1,384 and independent Don Prof Reis Abraham Halliwell with 433

Ms Qureshi accepted that votes had been lost to both the Green Party, who’s candidate Philip Kochitty, finished with 2,827 votes and the Workers Party, who candidate Jack Khan polled 4,673.

This, she said, was as a result of the conflict in Gaza which had angered many voters in the area.

She said: “There’s a lot of people unhappy about it, and not just from within the Muslim community. Having been an incumbent MP for 14 years, I think people have been able to see my record on the issue, which has led to many people on the doorstep saying they’re voting for me.”