#ELLGE2015: Graphic shows Green vote soar in Lewisham

There were substantial gains for the Labour Party across Lewisham, while the Liberal Democrats suffered massive losses in all three constituencies. Across the borough as a whole, support for the Green Party nearly tripled. UKIP saw a three-to-five-fold increase in popularity, while the Conservative vote hardly moved.

In Lewisham West and Penge, incumbent Labour MP Jim Dowd secured 24,347 votes, extending his share of the vote from 41.1 per cent in 2010 to 50.6 per cent. The Lib Dems were badly affected, seeing their vote tally plunge from 12,673 to 3,709 and handing back more than 20 per cent of the vote share to the other parties. The Greens’ Tom Chance racked up 4,077 votes – an 8.5 per cent share – catapulting his party into third place.

Labour MP Heidi Alexander was re-elected in Lewisham East with 23,907 votes, or 56 per cent of the ballots cast – a notable improvement from her 2010 result of 43 per cent. The Liberal Democrats’ vote share dropped precipitously from 28.2 per cent in 2010 to only 6 per cent on Friday, while UKIP’s Anne Marie Waters won a unexpected 3,886 votes – a more than 500 per cent gain over 2010. The Green Party also increased their visibility with their share of the overall vote growing from 1.5 per cent to 5.7 per cent since the last election.

Lewisham, Deptford’s newest MP Vicky Foxcroft won her first election with a commanding 60 per cent share of the vote. The Green Party candidate John Coughlin won 13 per cent, up from his 2010 result of 6.7 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats suffered a crushing loss, receiving barely 25 per cent of the votes they had in the last election.

By David Blood, Kara Fox and Dawn Tan

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