What will happen in the constituency of Bexhill and Battle as people vote today, the day of the Great Brexit Election of 2017?—Bay Life, 8 June 2017
IMAGE CREDIT: Huw Merriman , Conservative MP, Bexhill and Battle: Twitter feed: “A great privilege to speak with good men, women and children of #Bexhill mosque & for prayers, Thanks for support for #GE20172 June 2017
General Election 2017: Bexhill and the final Battle
Today (June 8) marks the General Election date for 2017.
Candidates, 2017 General Election, Bexhill and Battle Constituency
UKIP:Geoffrey Bastin
Labour:Christine Bayliss
Liberal Democra: Joel Kemp
Green: Jonathan Kent
Conservative: Huw Merriman
Result, 2015 General Election, Bexhill and Battle Constituency
(vote, percentage of thiose voting, increase/decrease)
Conservative, Huw Merriman, 30,245 54.8 +3.2
UKIP Geoffrey Bastin 10,170 18.4 N/A
Labour Michelle Thew 7,797 14.1 +2.1
Liberal Democrat Rachel Sadler 4,199 7.6 −20.4
Green Jonathan Kent 2,807 5.1 N/A
Perhaps today we are witnessing one of the most important general elections in our lifetime.
So much is at stake, negotiations over exit from the European Union, our safety and security as a country to the question of whether we want a government for the few or a government for the many.
People decide how they vote in general elections based on national questions. There are some very big questions. This election might decide the future direction of our country for a generation.
An election campaign that began 50 days ago, called, according to Prime Minister, Theresa May, to sort out and strengthen her hand in Brexit discussions with the European Union will be decided today
50 days later, the basis on which the election was called appears to have been forgotten.
Fifty days later, on the doorsteps, in the cafes here in Pevensey Bay. the talk is of terrorism and the economy. We have had three major terrorist attacks in the last nine weeks, two of those attacks taking during the campaign. What happened with London last weekend, is a story is still live, raw, with so many questions left.
We had a minute of silence for the victims on Tuesday (June 6). When was the last time that we had a one minute silence for the victims of terrorism two days before a General Election?
The desperate need to sort out our boundaries and what is happening in our country as a result of terrorism is a question that is being discussed here in Pevensey Bay in the same way that the question is being discussed across the country.
In fifty days we have had the launch of the Conservative manifesto, and then the withdrawal of some of the polices of the Conservative manifesto as the nation went into shock at the possibility that with the dementia tax, every penny that they owned in the form of their homes beyond £1000,000 could, in theory go the exchequer on the death of a loved one with dementia.
Within a day, Theresa May said nothing had changed, simultaneously explaining that there would indeed be a cap to the money that the exchequer could take.
And then there was the question of the NHS, education, police services, the winter allowance for pensioners being withdrawn to many people.
As she twisted and turned, Theresa May, from looking strong and secure found herself wobbling from stage to stage, even failing to appear in a debate with all the other leaders. People began to wonder.
As for Jeremy Corbyn, the principled campaigner was out and about talking to crowds of 20,000 at Tranmere Football ground with his megaphone diplomacy, as Theresa May drew crowds of twenty Conservative supporters all holding placards given to them by Tory Central Office.
The campaign poster that simply suggested to people that they vote Theresa May, with Conservative written as an afterthought disappeared in the last week of the campaign, to be replaced by a poster that again raised the question of Brexit.
And then the links of Jeremy Corbyn to IRA memorials raised an ugly head, his ability on one day to remember the total that Labour Party would spend on new child care plans, forgotten, lost somewhere on his iPad.
How will people vote?
We are perhaps in for the most unpredictable election results in living memory, and today we will see.
Here in Bexhill and Battle all the candidates, with the exception of the Labor Candidate Christine Bayliss have been in touch with Bay Life.
We were unable to put on our hustings event at the Priory Court Hotel in Pevensey as result of the unavailability of all the candidates, but we did talk to all the candidates, with the exception of Christine Bayliss, the labour candidate.
All the candidates impressed to a certain extent.
The UKIP candidate, Geoffrey Bastin also stood in 2015, when he came, surprisingly second, in the General Election, with 10,170 votes (18.4% of the electorate).
Standing again in 2017, he told us that ‘Theresa May has a lot to answer for’, with an interesting confrontational tone that suggested that he was very much up for a fight.
The Green candidate, Jonathan Kent, a local man who grew up near Ticehurst, has been a journalist for most of his career. His campaign ‘for the common good’ impressed us with the global reach of his debating skills, in communication with us, even bringing into the question of the election, the Presidency of Donald Trump as part of his perspective on the constituency and the country and the world. Without question he is an articulate candidate, although perhaps as the Green candidate unlikley to have much impact on the result here in Bexhill and Battle.
Joel Kemp, the LibDem candidate was perhaps the most interesting candidate standing that impressed Bay Life.
We gauged his views and campaign and responses to our communications. As a new candidate, he offered a fresh perspective and a demonstrable understanding of some of the local issues that are important to the people of Pevensey and Pevensey and Pevensey Bay, in particular with questions over tourism (so vital to us) and the relationship between the wider economy and our fragile infrastructure with schools, transport and the local NHS here.
He told us, on behalf of the LibDems, that he was looking forward to our campaign hustings, which sadly we had to cancel,
Whilst there there is little chance of him making an impact on voting in the constituency which is a solid Conservative stronghold, nonetheless, our view is that we will be hearing more from him in future years. He is a young candidate with a good grasp of local questions.
Our sitting MP, the Conservative, Huw Merriman, was in his element as he camped out across the constituency from end to end with hustings, events, meetings, from Bexhill to battle to Heathfield led, from meting rooms, to schools to mosques, to people daily on the doorstep.
Here in Pevensey and Pevensey Bay, in his two years as our MP, he has held constituency surgeries, held a Brexit Hustings, put his name publicly to the library campaign here and demonstrated that he does what it says on the tin to be an MP, he has represented his constituents, all of them, irrespective of how they vote.
By no means could it be said that Bay LIife holds a candle for the Conservatives, but having worked with him over two and more years on a number of questions we can honestly say that at every stage he has proved to be responsive and engaged with questions that matter to the people of Peveney and Pevensey Bay.
Huw Merriman took 30,425 votes in the General Election of 2015, with a percentage vote of 54.8, increasing the majority of his predecessor, Gregory Barker by 3.8%.
At the General Election of 2015 his main contender was Geoffrey Bastin of UKIP. who took second place with 10.170 votes.
The UKIP vote in this corner of the constituency, as with elsewhere in the country, has collapsed.
There is not a single UKIP poster in evidence on any window in Pevensey Bay that we have seen. In 2015 it was a different story with the purple prose offered by the party distributed across the Bay, with excited knots of people on the corners of roads whispering about well their message was being received
We even had local car drivers with UKIP stickers proudly displayed on the bonnets of cars parked outside the 1066 store, two stickers either side of the bonnet for good measure, his and hers.
Those days are gone, and the days of UKIP are gone, in our view they are also gone in the constituency of Bexhill and Battle.
Without any credible opposition from Labour here and with such a large live in element here in the constituency that will always vote Conservative, and what whatever is happening nationally in the debate over safety and security and a country that is for the many and not the few, it is obvious that our sitting MP, Conservative Huw Merriman, will be returned as our MP.
Given the local circumstances, we even predict, since the UKIP vote has collapsed and the Labour candidate is something of a local unknown, that, in spite of all the furore over the unpredictability of the vote today, that he will see his majority increase.
For his work in the constituency, particularly given the state of play in what is a very difficult election to call, with so much ground shifting, even today as people vote, we say that if he Huw Merriman does increase his majority in the constituency of Bexhill and Battle when the votes are counted, that it will not be a complete surprise.
There is a tolerance, decency, and understanding of people of all walks of life, faith and values in what Huw Merriman says. He also works incredibly hard. When we have talked to him about the values of democracy, the question that is at the heart of this general election, his principles and faith in democracy have always shone.
We may be witnessing today a sea change in the fortunes of the nation, with the question of hope over fear becoming centre stage, not just today as we vote, but in the days following the election as well.
In our view, locally though, if Conservative Huw Merriman is returned, as seems so obviously likely, and he increases his majority as well, we say that he will have deserved his place as our MP once again, following the Great Brexit Election of 2017.
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
