Conservative Mark Field has held onto his seat in the Cities of London and Westminster, despite a shift of more than 11% towards Labour in Thursday’s general election.
The Tory candidate saw his margin shrink to around 3000 votes as the ballots were tallied overnight, but managed to hang on in the Conservative stronghold for a fifth straight win.
It was one of the few good pieces of news for Theresa May in what was a catastrophic night overall that saw the Tories emerge as the largest party but without an overall majority after losing 12 seats as Labour looks on track to gain 30.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is calling for Theresa May’s resignation after her snap election gamble failed to pay off, leaving Britain with a hung parliament.
The result in the Cities of London and Westminster came around 3am, with Mr Field declared the winner with 47% of the vote, ahead of Labour’s Ibrahim Dogus on 38%.
Voter turnout in the constituency was the highest it has been since Tony Blair took power in 1997, with 38,654 people casting a ballot, an increase of more than 2,400 on 2015.
Liberal Democrat Bridget Fox finished on 11% of the vote, up 4.1% on 2015 while Greens teenager Lawrence McNally finished on 2.1%.
Election day exit polls were suggesting a close battle for the normally safe Conservative seat, with YouGov predicting a tossup with Mr Field at 41% and Mr Dogus at 39% based on voter intentions.
https://twitter.com/MarkFieldUK/status/873141617594650624
Mr Dogus conceded defeat but said he would “continue to fight another day”.
“We increased Labour’s hold on this seat and showed that through hard work, cooperation, and talking about the issues that matter to people, we were able to make a difference,” he said.
“I wish Mark Field all the best in representing the constituency in parliament.”
