General Election 2010: Labour wins comfortably in Lewisham
14.51
Cameron has just offered the Liberal Democrats precisely nothing by way of a deal.
12.37 Update
Our old friend from University, Rushanara Ali, has just won Bethnal Green and Bow with a majority of more than 11,500. We can offer this exclusive insight on the new MP - she is very nice.
11.41 Update
Interesting post on Boris Watch reckons the Mayor may have blown it for Cameron by incurring the wrath of South East London. Mess with us at your peril.
11.18 Update
So, as the dust section on the national parliament, which party should be happiest? There are reasons why each party can be cheerful.
The Tories got the most seats, 2 million more votes than any other parties and appear to have the best chance of forming a new government.
Labour escaped the drubbing many had predicted and still have a chance of retaining some power. Even if Labour lose it, the Tories will have to pass a difficult budget, riddled with compromises and pork for their coalition partners. They could watch from the sidelines as the Tories struggle and Cameron's authority within his own party shrinks even further, hoping that the coalition will collapse so they will get another chance in another 12-18 months, without the burden of Brown as leader.
The Liberal Democrats had their bubble burst, but at least are guaranteed some sort of power for the first time in the party's history. And of course, the case for PR has been made very strongly again.
And while Darren Johnson racked up fewer votes than Green supporters hoped for, they got their first MP in their history - a landmark victory.
UKIP didn't win a seat, but annoyed the hell out of the Tories, almost certainly denying them some key seats. UKIP voters will hope that this will encourage the Tories to move rightwards.
10.52 Update
Goodbye George Galloway. Poplar and Limehouse returns a Labour MP. We're neutral, but we're not that neutral - the man is a monster.
09.57 Update
In the comments, reader Robert reckons the picture will look very different at local level, with many people switching allegiance away from Labour. We're sure there's some truth in that, but the rising turnout will have brought out the Labour base, most likely to vote tribally. We're predicting Labour gains at Council level and the return of the Bullock.
09.52 Update
@adambienkov (call him a Labour blogger, he likes that) points out that Labour has won in Lewisham West and Penge too. Jim Dowd got 18,501 votes, ahead of his nearest rivals, the Lib Dems with 12,673.
It's now officially a hung Parliament - the outcome most of the country would have voted for, had they been given the choice.
09.47 Update
On Twitter, @andrewmilton points out that it was a 3.6% swing from Labour towards the LibDems, but a drop in the ocean really.
09.37 Update
Joan Ruddock (Lab) wins Lewisham Deptford with 53.7% of the vote. Then: Lib Dems (23.4%), Tories (13.5%), Greens (6.7%), Socialists (1.6%), Christians (1.2%).
So no surprise and the turnout and size of the wins here and in Lewisham East suggest that at Mayoral level Sir Steve Bullock will probably again romp home. Er, it was Brockley Central wot won it?!
08.48 Update
Heidi Alexander (of Brockley Cross walkabout fame) wins Lewisham East.
08.42 Update
What we have here is three main parties who are all losers - none has won the majority of the popular vote or enough seats to secure a majority. A coalition would assemble a new type of government, probably led by a new leader and probably conditional upon PR being introduced. In other words, a coalition with a popular mandate for change. Somehow, the media is contriving to make this sound like a crisis or the status quo, with the threat of LibDems "propping up" an unpopular government (rarther than playing a major role in a new Lib/Lab coalition government or indeed "propping up" an unpopular Conservative Party).
Anyway, we're off to work now, so hopefully no-one will declare Lewisham Deptford result while we're away, but if they do, please amuse yourselves in the comments below.
Glenda Jackson's won in Hampstead with less than a 50 vote margin
07.58 Update
Well, that just about wraps it up for me - 8am seems like a reasonable time to be signing off, so I'm heading to bed. Brockley Nick will keep you updated with the rest of the south-east London results as they trickle in - and then we'll start all over again with the local elections count this evening!
07.40 Update
Labour hold Greenwich & Woolwich (Nick Raynsford's seat). Dulwich & W Norwood and Croydon North are both also red.
07.24 Update
Labour hold Eltham.
07.16 Update
Those losing ministers and ex-ministers in full:
Jacqui Smith
Charles Clarke
Tony McNulty
Jim Knight
Bill Rammell
Vera Baird
Mike O'Brien
Shahid Malik
Angela Smith
Phil Hope
Other big losers:
Lembit Opik (Lib Dem)
Evan Harris (Lib Dem)
Peter Robinson (DUP)
Julia Goldsworthy (Lib Dem)
Susan Kramer (Lib Dem)
Phil Willis (Lib Dem)
Richard Taylor (independent)
And the bold 'tried but failed':
Phillipa Stroud (Conservative)
Sir Reg Empey (Conservative & UUP)
Annunziata Rees-Mogg (Conservative)
Shaun Bailey (Conservative)
Wilfred Emannuel-Jones (Conservative)
Joanne Cash (Conservative)
07.06 Update
Former Home Office and Employment minister Tony McNulty has lost his seat in Harrow, Sky reports.
07.00 Update
Of the south-east London seats, Harriet Harman and Simon Hughes have been returned for Camberwell-Peckham and Southwark-Bermondsey respectively. The Lewisham seats, plus Greenwich, Erith, Eltham, and Old Bexley haven't declared yet. The Croydon seats, Beckenham, Orpington, Bexleyheath and Bromley are all blue.
06.55 Update
Julia Goldsworthy (Lib Dem) has lost her seat to the Tories. Lib Dems have also lost Falmouth. The Tories have really hit the Lib Dems hard in this election.
06.52 Update
All the noises from the national leaders are that nothing is going to happen in short order - they all want to go to bed and will then spend the weekend wrangling, we predict.
The markets were quite happy early on in the night, as it looked as though the Tories were on course for a narrow majority, but the pound has recently dropped sharply against the dollar and traders are pricing in a hung parliament.
Hampstead & Kilburn is very tight and about to start a re-count.
06.38 Update
Turnout figures are very variable - we've seen everything from low-60s to mid-70s. It'll be interesting to see how it averages out nationally.
THE LEWISHAM DEPTFORD COUNT HAS FINALLY BEGUN. BC waits on tenterhooks.
The local election count doesn't start til this evening, but Ladywell councillor Sue Luxton is predicting that Greens will lose seats. She cites a big Labour turnout.
06.33 Update
Frank Dobson has held his seat in Holborn & St Pancras.
Nick Clegg has FINALLY won his seat (the count took forever, for no apparent reason) and therefore is allowed publicly to comment on the national election position, at last.
06.25 Update
Emily Thornberry has held Islington South, which was regarded as a very tricky seat; she had a very slim majority but appears to have consolidated it.
06.13 Update
More London results starting to come through now. Scandal-hit Labour MP Ann Keen has lost Brentford to the Conservatives. Labour leftwinger Jon Cruddas has held onto Dagenham despite a strong challenge from the Tories. BNP got nearly 5,000 votes, taking third place.
Only around 100 more results to come.
06.10 Update
Margaret Hodge has held Dartford comfortably; the BNP came in third with around 6,000 votes. It remains to be seen how they do with the local council results, though.
Introduction
Good morning earlybirds. As you slept, the election bandwagon rolled on, with various winners, losers and collateral damage along the way. You join us now in a state of some confusion: basically, no-one has even a sniff of a majority, even the Tories seem to accept that this Parliament is solidly hung, and the much-touted constitutional crisis swift approacheth.
Some of the highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective) which you've missed:
- A fair handful of cabinet ministers have lost their seats, including two former home secretaries;
- The Greens have won their first-ever Westminster seat, in Brighton Pavilion;
- Tories are on track for 309 seats; Labour set for 259.
- Tories' plans for coalition-building in Northern Ireland received a solid knee-capping, with NI Assembly Leader Peter Robinson losing his seat (he hangs onto his Assembly seat though), and Sir Reg Empey failing to win his challenge, while Lady Hermon won as an independent.
- The Lib Dems have performed terribly compared to recent polling-based expectations: they're actually on track to lose seats compared to their 2005 result.
- Some people ran out of time at the polling booth and thus couldn't vote: this is going to become a rumbling scandal which will be made much of by all sides, we anticipate. Lewisham Council said: '2 of our stations had queues but ballot papers were issued before the 10pm legal cut off point so people could still vote.'
Lewisham's count has not yet begun.
