Ellie Reeves, Lewisham West and Penge’s Labour MP. Pic: Ellie Reeves
Labour secured Lewisham again with an overwhelming majority in the borough’s three seats in last night’s general election.
Vicky Foxcroft comfortably won Lewisham Deptford 35,000 votes ahead of her nearest rival, the Conservative Melanie McLean – a 77 per cent majority that was up 17 per cent from the 2015 election and
Ellie Reeves took Lewisham West and Penge with a majority of 23,162 over her Conservative adversary Shaun Bailey who came in second with 12,249 votes.
Reeves had replaced Jim Dowd, who stood as MP for the constituency since 2010. Heidi Alexander said she felt “very privileged to be re-elected” after holding onto her seat of Lewisham East with 67.9 per cent of the vote – beating her Conservative rival Peter Fortune by 21,213 votes.
The Conservatives came in second, followed by the Lib Dems, Green Party, UKIP, Willow Winston (Independent) and the Christian People’s Alliance. Labour’s victory in the constituencies came as no surprise with Lewisham among some of the safest seats in the country.
Fantastic results for Labour in Lewisham. Well done @elliereeves @vickyfoxcroft & @heidi_mp. We’re lucky to have 3 fantastic Labour women 🌹 pic.twitter.com/R7KFoa4B55
— Joe Dromey (@Joe_Dromey) 9 June 2017
Lewisham’s voter turnout this year sits above the national average of 68.7 per cent with Lewisham Deptford at 70.5 per cent, Lewisham East at 69.4 per cent, and Lewisham West and Penge at 73 per cent.
With Labour securing more votes than expected, no party has won an absolute majority in the House of Commons and a hung parliament has been declared.
Labour’s gains in Lewisham and across the country may have resulted from an increase in young voters.
According to Sky News data, turnout among 18 to 24-year-olds was over 66 percent, up from 43 percent in the 2015 general election.
RESULTS
LEWISHAM WEST AND PENGE
Ellie Reeves – Labour – 35,411 votes/ 66.6 per cent
Shaun Bailey – Conservative – 12,249 votes/ 23 per cent
John Russell – Liberal Democrat – 3,317 votes/ 6.2 per cent
Karen Wheller – Green – 1,144 votes/ 2.2 per cent
Hoong-Wai Cheah – UKIP – 700 votes/ 1.3 per cent
Katherine Hortense -Christian Peoples Alliance – 325 votes/ 0.6 per cent
Russell White – Populist Party – 50 votes/ 0.1 per cent
LEWISHAM EAST
Heidi Alexander – Labour –32,072 votes/ 67.9 per cent
Peter Fortune – Conservative – 10859 votes/ 23 per cent
Emily Frith – Liberal Democrat – 2086 votes/ 4.4 per cent
Storm Poorun – Green – 803 votes/ 1.7 per cent
Keith Forster – UKIP – 798 votes/ 1.7 per cent
Willow Winston – Independent – 355 votes/ 0.8 per cent
Maureen Martin – Christian Peoples Alliance – 228 votes/ 0.5 per cent
LEWISHAM DEPTFORD
Vicky Foxcroft – Labour – 42,461 votes/ 77 per cent
Melanie McLean – Conservative – 7,562 votes/ 13.7 per cent
Bobby Dean – Liberal Democrat – 2,911 votes/ 5.3 per cent
John Coughlin – Green – 1,640 votes/ 3 per cent
Malcolm Martin – Christian People’s Alliance –252 votes/ 0.5 per cent
Laura McAnea – Animal Welfare – 225 votes/ 0.4 per cent
Jane Lawrence – The Realists’ Party – 61 votes/ 0.1 per cent
