The breakdown on the election in Bristol and South Gloucestershire
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Bristol South
Labour’s Karin Smyth has held onto her seat in Bristol South despite losing ground to all other parties. Smyth’s majority was cut from to 9,900 in the biggest swing from Labour to the Tories of any Bristol constituency.
The Brexit Party stood in Bristol South, which has the highest proportion of Leave voters of any Bristol seat (48%), but their candidate Robert de Vito Boutin had little impact in the end, losing his deposit and coming in last place. Tony Dyer of the Green Party and Andrew Brown of the Lib Dems both slightly increased their share of the vote compared with 2017. Conservative candidate Richard Morgan came distant second.
After the results, Smyth told the BBC: “Bristol South has voted for a Labour MP since 1935 – it’s a huge honour, but that has not been reflected nationally on a number of occasions. In fact, two-thirds of that time, we’ve been in opposition. That’s not good enough and does let people down who want a Labour government.
“I’m really sad about tonight, I’ve lost lots of good colleagues, but mostly I’m sad that the programme that people voted for in Bristol South is not going to be enacted, and we’re going to have a very difficult five years ahead.”
For an in-depth constituency and candidate profile, click here.
Bristol East
Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East, has been re-elected amid the Tory landslide victory nationally. McCarthy was first elected MP for the constituency in 2015.
The MP secured 53% of the total vote. Despite Bristol East being a safe Labour seat, McCarthy’s majority was cut from 13,400 to 10,800. This narrowing of the margins isn’t down to the Conservatives gaining more votes, rather the Lib Dems muscling in.
The Greens had hoped to perform better, given a strong base of support next door in Bristol West. Candidate Conan Connolly bagged 2,100 votes, up by a couple of percent from 2017. Tim Page of the Brexit Party came fifth with close to 1,900 votes. Neither party reached the 5% minimum required to reclaim their £500 entry deposit.
Compared to 2017, overall turnout in Bristol East increased by a small margin to 70.6%.
For an in-depth constituency and candidate profile, click here.
Bristol West
The Labour stronghold remains just that, with Thangam Debbonaire returning with a large majority of 28,000. As predicted, the seat was a straight fight between Debbonaire and the Green party’s Carla Denyer, with a very high 76% voter turnout.
The Greens doubled the party’s votes on 2017’s election, making a 9,000 vote dent in Labour’s majority, but they still came a distant second place. The Green’s failure to bag their number one target seat, despite such a large swing, will surely increase the party’s call to reform the election of representatives to better reflect the proportion of votes won.
For an in-depth constituency and candidate profile, click here.
Bristol North West
Labour’s Darren Jones has been re-elected as the MP for Bristol North West, increasing his majority by nearly 1,000 votes. Bristol’s most marginal seat was not as close as expected, and contrasts with Labour’s catastrophic result nationally.
Traditionally seen as a bellwether, this is now the second election in a row when Bristol North West has been at odds with the party in 10 Downing Street.
Defending a majority of less than 5,000 when Jones unseated Tory Charlotte Leslie in 2017, poll projections either predicted a narrow Labour victory or said the seat was too close to call. However, Jones received 48.9% of votes which was enough to defeat Conservative candidate Mark Weston by 10 points.
Liberal Democrat Chris Coleman, who targeted the constituency’s 61% of Remain voters and repeatedly claimed his party had a serious chance of winning, came a distant third with Green Party candidate Heather Mack coming in at fourth.
Daren Jones said: “No politician can ever take Bristol North West for granted and I’m grateful to each and every one of you who voted for me again at this election, whether you were a Labour voter, a Liberal Democrat voter, a Green voter or indeed a number of Conservative voters in this constituency.”
“At the last election I promised to stick to my promises and to put you first, and tonight I reaffirm that promise and to promise to continue to work hard for you, to be your voice in Parliament and your champion in Bristol.”
“I am clearly sorry that the Labour Party has had such a devastating night across the country this evening. We must be honest in the Labour Party about why we suffered such a historic loss and failed many of my constituents and many people across the country.
“Now that I’ve been re-elected I promise to do all that I can to ensure that that doesn’t happen again in the future.”
For an in-depth constituency and candidate profile, click here.
Filton and Bradley Stoke
Conservative Jack Lopresti has held on to his seat in Filton and Bradley Stoke with a small decrease in his share of the vote.
The seat saw a major effort by hundreds of Labour activists in support of the unsuccessful candidate Mhairi Threlfall, but the energetic campaign by the party was unable to buck the national trend, despite high turnout of 72.6%.
In fact, Lopresti’s overall majority actually edged up by some 1,400 votes to a total of 5,600 ahead of the Labour challenger whose vote share dipped by 3.3%, exactly the increase won by the Lib Dems in the constituency. The Greens also saw a small vote share increase, but did not reach the 5% required to hold on to the candidate’s £500 deposit.
Overall, the seat reflected the national picture, though there will likely be debates between local opponents of the Conservative party. All anti-Tory and pro-remain tactical voting recommendations were for Labour in this seat, and we now know there were enough Lib Dem and Green voters to overturn the Tory majority. Similarly to across the country, given the divide in policies and fractious relationships, these 6,500 Lib Dem and Green voters couldn’t be convinced to vote for Labour.
For an in-depth constituency and candidate profile, click here.
Kingswood
Conservative Chris Skidmore has been re-elected MP for Kingswood. The former Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation has held onto his seat since 2010.
The MP received almost 28,000 votes, while Labour rival Nicola Bowden-Jones trailed in second place with 16,500. Despite persistent canvassing by hundreds of Labour activists, the Conservatives now have a majority of over 11,000, up from 7,500 in 2017. Skidmore has consistently increased his vote share at every election since 2010 and will breathe a sigh of relief that targeted campaigning by Labour didn’t dent his record.
Dine Romero, the Lib Dem candidate, got 3,421 votes, a 6.9% increase from 2017. Joseph Evans of the Green party candidate received 1,200 votes, while the Animal Welfare Party bagged 489 votes. Neither Green or AWP candidates reached the 5% minimum required to reclaim their £500 entry deposit.
Overall turnout for Kingswood was 71.7%.
All three parliamentary constituencies in South Gloucestershire re-elected their conservative candidates. Skidmore joins Jack Lopresti MP of Filton and Bradley Stoke, and Luke Hall of Thornbury and Yate, to serve in the new Tory majority parliament.
For an in-depth constituency and candidate profile, click here.
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Thankyou, Bristol Cable for your clear, timely, truthful and consistent coverage of local issues during the election period. I’ve turned to you most evenings to get a reliable picture of what’s happening.
The struggle for fair and progressive policies to confront local aspects of existential issues around wealth distribution and climate change starts here – with community-based actions which Cable can lead. Good luck!