Ed Davey holds Kingston and Surbiton in biggest ever Liberal Democrat majority
5 July 2024, 01:41 | Updated: 5 July 2024, 03:07
Sir Ed Davey has held his constituency of Kingston and Surbiton, winning the biggest ever Liberal Democrat majority in the process.
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Sir Ed boosted his majority to 17,235, gaining 25,870 votes overall. The Conservatives were second with 8,635 votes.
The Lib Dem leaders' win in the south-west London suburbs was his party's second of the night, after Tom Gordon won Harrogate and Knaresborough with 23,976 votes..
Mr Gordon beat the Conservatives into second place in his North Yorkshire constituency, with a new majority of over 8,000.
Reform had 5,679 votes in third place, followed by Labour with 4,153 and the Greens on 1,762.
The Tories previously had a majority of over 9,000 in the constituency, and had held the seat since 2005.
This is expected to be one of several seats that the Liberal Democrats take from the Conservatives - including Godalming & Ash, the Surrey constituency previously held by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Read more: Follow live as Britain decides on the election night blog
The Lib Dems were predicted to win 61 seats overall by the exit poll, released at 10pm when polls closed. That is a significant improvement on their performance in 2019, when they won just 11 seats.
But after the exit poll was released, a Lib Dem candidate warned LBC that "we haven't yet formally won a single seat".
Sarah Olney told LBC's Britain Decides: "We're obviously really excited by what the exit poll is indicating."
Pollster analyses the Exit Poll
Asked what it might mean for the party, she added: "I think it's much too soon to say. We haven't yet formally one a single seat."
Earlier, the party declared victory in 12 constituencies they nicknamed "Davey's dozen", named after their leader Sir Ed Davey.
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A source said: “We are declaring victory in Davey's dozen, the first 12 of many wins we're expecting tonight.
"From the West Country to Greater Manchester, the map is being painted gold as Liberal Democrats sweep to victory in the Conservative Party's former heartlands."
1. Torbay
2. North Cornwall
3. Yeovil
4. Eastleigh
5. Wimbledon
6. Woking
7. Guildford
8. South Cambridgeshire
9. Cheadle
10. Hazel Grove
11. Wokingham
12. Lewes
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