Suprise Holds

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There were plenty of suprise Labour holds last night as well... Selby comes to mind.

[minionofmidas]

Dorset South. Enfield North. Sittingbourne & Sheppey. And, greatest one of all really, Dumfries & Galloway.

[Silent Hunter]

Don't forget Hove.

[minionofmidas]

Thank you. I won't.

Also Hastings & Rye. Labour polled something like 12% in Hastings & Rye in 1992.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sittingbourne & Sheppey

Great thing about that nailbiter was the fact that under the seat's old name of Faversham it was an amazingly marginal Labour seat from 1945 until 1970; several elections in a row decided by less than 1000 votes.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Here's another: Oldham East & Saddleworth. Woolas actually increased his majority over the LibDems.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oh... Thanet South as well. Thanks to Norman Tebbit saying that the Tory candidate was too right wing!

[Peter]

Thanet South was also helped out by Nigel Farage's candidacy (UKIP) because he took 5% of the vote.

Medway was something of a shock hold, especially after Marshall-Andrews declared his own defeat on national TV.

Stroud and Gloucester also come to mind

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I want to thank the people of Gloucester for not being the racist c*nts I had them down as

[Emsworth]

Ochil and South Perthshire, Gillingham

[minionofmidas]

Thanet South was also helped out by Nigel Farage's candidacy (UKIP) because he took 5% of the vote.

Medway was something of a shock hold, especially after Marshall-Andrews declared his own defeat on national TV.

Stroud and Gloucester also come to mind

Yeah, Stroud. I'm really surprised at Labour holding Stroud and losing Forest of Dean. I'd have thought it'd be the other way round if anything.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

One word: incumbency. Organ stood down in Forest of Dean (to "get her life back"). Had she run again, I'm fairy sure she'd have won; as it was Labour only lost the seat due to vote splitting and seeing as most rural M.P's have a personal vote of at least 2pts...

[Michael Z]

My constituency, Ilford South, was held by Labour (just about). However, the constituency where I used to live until about three months ago (Ilford North, ho hum) went to the Tories. The former was a bit of a surprise, in spite of the area's wide ethnic diversity (suggesting a more traditional Labour base), because the Tories had been campaigning like mad around here while Labour or the Lib Dems were unheard of all throughout the election season.

Cambridge, where I lived until 1999, has gone from Labour to the Lib Dems. No surprise really, given Labour's huge unpopularity in university constituencies thanks to top-up fees. Having said that, Anne Campbell, the area's outgoing MP, did oppose both tuition fees and the Iraq war (also unpopular with students), which goes to show that national issues seem to count more than regional ones when choosing a local MP. It may sound like stating the obvious, but sometimes it's hard to tell in this weird electoral system we're, ahem, blessed with.