The veteran Conservative MP for Chingford and Woodford Green gained 17,281 votes, with second-placed Shama Tatler securing just 79 votes more than Faiza Shaheen’s 12,445, reports Marco Marcelline

Iain Duncan Smith (centre) speaks after his win was announced

Iain Duncan Smith held his Chingford and Woodford Green seat last night after Labour’s Shama Tatler and the independent canididate Faiza Shaheen’s vote was almost equally split.

Duncan Smith gained 17,281 votes, with second-placed Shama Tatler (12,524) securing just 79 votes more than Shaheen’s 12,445.

In 2019, Shaheen came 1,262 votes short of winning the seat from Duncan Smith.

Speaking to the Echo after the election result was announced, a visibly upset Shaheen said she would have won the seat had the Labour Party not deselected her shortly after the election was announced in May.

Shaheen said: “I’m so angry with [Labour] right now. That shouldn’t have happened. Their candidate now gets to go back to Brent, and now my community, the community that I live in, we are going to struggle along.

“I’m so annoyed by them. They went around, they said I had no chance of winning. They went around and lied to people. They spread rumours about me, they smeared my name.

“I was just looking at them going through the ballot sheets and the crosses next to my name, and I’m so grateful for the people that came behind me despite what the Labour Party did to me. I’m so blessed to have that much support; over 12,000 people standing with me because they know I’m their neighbour and I care.

“This has been an incredible community effort; people that believed in what we wanted to do. They wanted to stand up to bullies, they wanted to stand up for justice. I’m so incredibly grateful.

“I know we’re going to be so disappointed to have Iain Duncan Smith all over again and be disappointed that we could have won if it hadn’t been for the lies and what the Labour Party did to me. It’s a real shame but there’s something beautiful that’s been born from this.”

Asked if she believed Labour could bring in change while leading the next government, she said: “Listen, I’m so glad to see the back of the Tories. I’ve been fighting austerity since 2010. No-one has probably given enough time as I have to fighting Iain Duncan Smith.

I hope they make a change in government, but the way they treat people, and the way they treat communities….I hope they change their ways.”

On her political future, she said: “I’ve got a small baby and I’ve got to regroup a little bit and think about what the community wants because this isn’t driven by me, it’s driven by so many people who want something different.”

The political upset came as Pro-Palestine independents caused shockwaves for the Labour Party last night.

Labour’s vote was significantly down across diverse constituencies with high Muslim populations such as Bethnal Green and Stepney, where Labour MP Rushanara Ali saw her majority collapse from more than 31,000 to just 1,679.

In Ilford North, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting almost lost his seat to Leanne Mohamad, a young British-Palestinian independent.

Meanwhile, in Leicester South, independent Shockat Adam declared “this is for Gaza” as he won the seat by 979 votes and dethroned Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth.

This year Labour gained just 1.6% more of the vote share than it did in 2019. In 2017 Labour received 40% of the vote share, but lost the election. Labour’s total vote is down this year compared to both 2017 and 2019 but slightly higher than its showing in 2015.

As of 12pm, the Labour Party has 412 seats to the Conservatives’ 121 seats.

Speaking to reporters after the result was announced, Duncan Smith said Shaheen should “keep fighting”.

The Conservative veteran said: “If she’s keen on politics, and she seems to be, then she should keep fighting. That’s all you do in politics you’ve just got to get up in the morning ready for the next fight.”

The Echo understands that Duncan Smith privately told Shaheen at a hustings event last week that he thought Labour had treated her “appallingly”.

On his way out of the Feel Good Centre in Walthamstow, where the count was held, he told the Echo he was “not surprised” that he retained his seat for Chingford and Woodford Green, saying he “expected to win”.

He also added that he was planning on getting the Reform Party vote back to him.

Duncan Smith, who retained his seat with over 17,000 votes, additionally said he did not believe Labour had gifted him his win by deselecting Faiza Shaheen.

He said: “I think it did me no favours. Lots and lots of my constituents said to me when I knocked their doors, ‘you’ve not got a problem, the vote’s split [on left].’ And it was very difficult for me to get them out to vote.”

Tatler did not speak to the media following her loss and Labour did not respond to the Echo’s request for comment about the result.

The full results for Chingford and Woodford Green are presented below with the candidates listed in alphabetical order.

Chris Brody, Green Party, 1,343 votes

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative Party, 17,281

Josh Hadley, Liberal Democrats, 1,275

Paul Luggeri, Reform Party, 3,653

Faiza Shaheen, Independent, 12,445

Shama Tatler, Labour Party, 12,524

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