Huw Merriman, the Conservative candidate for the Bexhilll and Battle constituency is celebrating today with news that he is now the next MP for the locality.
He polled 30,245 votes taking a 54.8% share of the total vote, which represented a +3.2 swing to the Conservatives.
Geoffrey Bastion on behalf of UKIP came second with 10,170 votes. Michelle Thew for Labour came third with 7,797 votes, Rachel Sadler for the Liberal Democrats was fourth with 4,199 votes and Jonathan Green was fifth with 2,807 votes in an astonishing election which is unlikely to be forgotten.
Perhaps the Conservative Party was astonished as everyone else to see the Exit Poll last night at 10:00pm that predicted 316 seats for the Party.
Today (Friday 8 May) it has been confirmed that the Conservative Party has 331 seats.
By morning it was clear that the Conservatives would be governing on their own.
On his twitter feed Huw Merriman said ‘thanks to those in Bexhill & Battle who have supported me in vote and deed. Huge privilege’.
His acceptance speech was posted on YouTube.
It was an unprecedented night in the history of the country with general elections, which no-one had expected or seen.
It is the first time since Anthony Eden in 1955 that a sitting Prime Minister has seen an increased majority for a second term.
It marked the worst election defeat for the Labour Party since Michael Foot in 1983 and for the Liberal Democrats it marked the end of their influence in Parliament for a generation.
In Scotland Nicola Sturgeon on behalf of the Scottish Nationalists, with 56 seats, said that ‘the tectonic plates in Scottish politics have shifted’.
The small pockets of red and yellow in the locality went blue with the Conservative Party taking the seat in Eastbourne by 733 votes. Liberal Democrat Norman Baker lost his seat in Lewes.
In Hastings the Conservative Party held the Hastings and Rye seat.
In Brighton, Caroline Lucas on behalf of the Greens was re-elected with an increased majority. Simon Kirby held his conservative seat in Brighton Kemptown. Hove and Portslade bucked the trend by electing for Labour, Peter Kyle.
The country woke up to the the most extraordinary election results in living memory in which people up and down the land will face policies that they have witnessed for the last five years in relation to austerity and cuts. Many people argue that it will be the weakest section of society that will suffer the most in consequence.
Without a viable opposition to the policies in the forseeable future, the Conservative Party will now govern the United Kingdom unopposed.
Election 2015 is one of those sea-change moments in the voting history of the country.
It is already being seen as both remarkable and astonishing. It remains to be seen what will now happen in this country and in the local constituency.
People have decided how to they wanted to vote and in the face of 11 opinion polls in the last three weeks, they voted in a way that was unexpected.
The Exit Poll last night was the first glimpse of what was to come through the night.
However remarkable, shocking or surprising, the result it has to be accepted, is conclusive. The people have spoken.
Results in the Wealden District Council and Pevensey Parish Council elections will be announced tomorrow (Saturday 9 May)..
