Birmingham Labour MP Jess Phillips cries in car after Election win amid boos

Labour MP Jess Phillips successfully defended her Birmingham Yardley constituency by a margin of 693 votes, narrowly defeating Jody McIntyre of George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain.

The 42-year-old faced heckling during her victory speech, describing the circumstances as the “worst in which she had ever stood.” She retained her seat with 11,275 votes, edging out McIntyre, who garnered 10,582 votes.

What Happened During Jess Phillips’ Victory Speech?

As her speech was interrupted by chants of “Jody, Jody”, “free Palestine” and “shame on you”.

Ms Phillips responded: “I see we’re going to continue with the class that we had during the campaign… I understand that a strong woman standing up to you is met with such reticence.”

She further added: "This election has been the worst campaign I have ever been involved in. Today a brilliant community activist who puts on events for every single part of our community went out to campaign for me and was filmed on the streets and then had her tyres slashed. A young woman on her own delivering leaflets was filmed and screamed at by a much older man.

"Today I was due to be joined on the election trail by the family of (murdered MP) Jo Cox and there is absolutely no way I could have allowed them to see what was going on here, what was aggressive and violent in our democracy."

Expressing gratitude to West Midlands Police for their response to the “aggression that we have suffered” during the campaign, she concluded: “I didn’t bring my children here tonight, because I knew this would happen and they deserve better.”

On her way home from the General Election count that morning, the Labour politician shared an uplifting update from a constituent she had been assisting for several years.

She shared her experience of maintaining her composure after a "tense and tough night."

She revealed that a mother she had been assisting "to free" had just been offered a new city council home with her daughters, which led to an emotional response.

On X, Jess posted: "It's been a tense and tough night but I held my composure. In the car on the way home from the count a woman and her daughters who I have worked to free for years text me and told me they had finally been offered a house. I burst in to floods of tears."

Numerous supportive messages appeared under the post. One read: "I thought the booing and heckling last night was an utter disgrace Jess. Well done for dealing with it in a calm and dignified manner."

How Did Independent Candidates and Activists Impact the Election?

Yardley was among the Birmingham constituencies where Independent candidates were anticipated to draw votes away from Labour, exploiting the party's much-debated stance on Gaza.

Earlier, several activists were removed for disrupting the announcement of the results.