Valerie Vaz takes the chair for Labour in Walsall General Election

Valerie Vaz has been announced as the Labour MP for Walsall and Bloxwich.

Transcript

00:00So here we are, Valerie, a fantastic win for yourself, isn't it? How are you feeling, what's your initial reaction?

00:07So I'm absolutely delighted because it was a new constituency and it took in four wards of the old Walsall North.

00:17And I kept saying, I didn't run away, I stayed to fight. I really didn't know what the outcome was going to be.

00:24But we had a good manifesto as a Labour Party and the vision that we put forward to people was that we needed to transform our country.

00:34What was it like in the run up to the election? What was it like hitting the streets?

00:41So it was very hard because I think a lot of people, because it was such a short time, we didn't really expect the election to be called.

00:50Everyone was expecting it to be November. We'd heard a rumour one day in the House and then someone came down and said,

00:57it's come from on high, it's going to be on the 4th of July and no one believed it because no one was ready in that sense.

01:04And it was six weeks of effectively trying to make the case for me, for the Labour government, out to my new constituents.

01:15So after today, what's the next step?

01:19So hopefully it will be doing what I did for the old Walsall South constituency and carry on working for people.

01:26And we're going to have, I think, I'm not quite sure of the final results, but hopefully a Labour government.

01:34And then we'd really hopefully see some changes.

01:39Absolutely, yeah. And sort of one sentence, just thanking people.

01:45I don't think I'd have been able to achieve this without my brilliant, brilliant members and supporters who came out and we knocked on doors.

01:56We did the traditional, we did the digital, we did everything to try and convince people.

02:02And you can't do it alone. This is not not a victory for me.

02:05It's a victory for everyone who still stayed up here, who's been here, who, you know, through all the difficulties of a six week long campaign,

02:15which is a long, long time and, you know, some tricky situations as well.

02:20But we all managed to get through that. But we only got through that because we were a team.

02:26And what's your predictions? What's your predictions overall? Where are we going overall?

02:32You mean, I couldn't tell you. I'm halfway through. Obviously, we couldn't use our phones while the count was going on.

02:42But some of the results are quite interesting. And normally we don't believe the polls. I never believe the polls.

02:49I always say I'm not going to tell you what the result is until the last vote is counted.

02:54And you really don't know. I sometimes it's a wonderment that I have about democracy.

03:00And you look at the ballot papers stacking up and you think people have actually gone out to vote.

03:05And that's what I think is really exceptional. And the way we do it in this country, I think it's absolutely exceptional.

03:14And something that we take for granted, but we mustn't because it's very precious. Democracy is very precious.

03:21Absolutely. And what you've seen here is a perfect example of a democratic process taking place.

03:26So celebration? Celebration tonight, tomorrow?

03:29Maybe not. It's today.

03:31So today, tomorrow, sorry.

03:33Probably later on or maybe Saturday. Along with the England team.

03:39And the England team.