Labour’s Jennette Arnold was embraced by her "dear friend" Jeremy Corbyn after winning the North East Assembly seat by a landslide 100,000 vote majority.

Ms Arnold said her "heart was bursting" to see the Labour leader after it was announced she had won 134,307 votes with the Conservatives narrowly beating the Greens to second.

Ms Arnold received 59 per cent of the vote share on a 46 per cent turnout.

She said: “Everybody knew what we were standing up for in North East London.

“We were standing up for Londoners so they could have the housing they deserve.”


Ms Arnold also stated her intentions to stand up for the environment.

She added: “I personally had to take time out of the campaign from my asthma so I know we have to stand up for air clean enough to breathe.

Mr Corbyn laughed off Ms Arnold’s joke that she had known Jeremy long enough to remember his brown hair.

She said: “It was so special seeing Jeremy, I’ve been campaigning with him for more than 30 years and my heart is bursting.

“I’m privileged to call him my friend, my MP and my leader of the party.”

While hugging Ms Arnold, Mr Corbyn said: “Jennette is a dear friend and I’m happy to come here and support.”

Sam Malik for the Conservatives received 32,565 votes in second, just ahead of Samir Jeraj for the Greens in third with 29,401 votes.

Liberal Democrat Terry Stacy came fourth with 14,312 votes.

The grandmother also confided that her fourth consecutive term would also be her last as she intends to spend more time with her 7-year-old granddaughter.

She added: “It’s a very demanding job and I want to spend as much time with my granddaughter while she is still young.”