By Ed Southgate
December 20 2019, 11.45
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Spoiled ballots soared by almost a third from the 2017 General Election in south west London.

Constituencies recorded a 32% surge in rejected ballot papers at last week’s election, with 2,552 in 2017 rising to 3,363 in 2019.

Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond, who held his seat with a reduced majority, said: “For a lot of people this election was very difficult.

“I had a lot of people say ‘we like you, but we don’t want Brexit, we don’t like the Liberal Democrats so we don’t know what we are going to do’. I think there was an element of spoiled ballot papers from that.

“For many people this was a more difficult election in of the choices in front of them, particularly given Wimbledon was a heavily remain constituency and therefore there may have been some element of that difficulty.”

A spoiled ballot, which is counted and included in turnout figures, is often used by voters as a political protest to their dislike of any party or candidate.

Of the 20 south west London constituencies, 17 reported a rise in spoiled ballots since 2017.

The number of voters spoiling their ballots in Croydon South almost doubled from 123 in 2017 to 222 in 2019.

Rejected ballots in Sutton and Cheam rose by more than half from 123 to 211, while Wimbledon reported an increase from 127 to 217.

Of three constituencies reporting a fall, Kensington had the largest down from 118 to 92.

The rise was less dramatic from the 2015 election with just 401 more south west London voters spoiling their ballots last week, representing a 13% increase.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who did not have any candidates of his own party standing in his constituency, notably told the Question Time Under 30s Special audience he planned to spoil his ballot.

He said: “I think you should vote, and spoiling your ballot paper is a form of voting.”

He insisted Boris Johnson’s deal “is not Brexit” as his justification.

Mr Hammond added: “Once the election is over I am there to represent everybody in my constituency whether they spoiled their ballot paper, voted Liberal or Labour or even ed me.

“It is disappointing people were voting for none of the above but the key thing for me now is to represent everybody in Wimbledon.”

He said while it is impossible to speculate if the rise signifies the start of a longer trend in spoiled ballots his guess is that it will more likely be temporary.

Ballot papers can be rejected for want of an official mark, voting for more than one candidate, writing or marking the paper so the voter could be identified, or being unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty.

The 2019 election saw Boris Johsnon win the largest majority for his Conservative Party since the 1980s with 365 seats, while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour suffered its biggest loss since 1935 with 203 seats.

Five constituencies in south west London saw its colours change. Among them was former MP Justine Greening’s Putney seat being taken by Labour.

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By Aliss Higham
December 18 2019, 14.40
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Former Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad has announced she was diagnosed with breast cancer four weeks before she was due to contest her seat in the general election.

She revealed she had surgery to remove the cancer and a reconstruction just three days before polling day.

In an interview with Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC this morning, she said: “I didn’t want it to be a factor, either a positive or negative in my campaign.”

She added that she did not want to make it public because of possible reactions on social media.

She also praised her family and friends, as well as the doctors and staff at Charing Cross Hospital for their care, describing it as ‘a kind, caring conveyor belt’.

“I’ve got amazing family and friends and colleagues around me,” she said.

“As somebody who likes to be in charge of things, just handing yourself over to a doctor is quite humbling.

“Weirdly, it was a relief to know it was going to be done before the election, even though the timing was horrific.

“So I just sort of submitted to that. I’d allowed people to look after me which I don’t normally do – I’m a looker after-er.

“I had a day of rest and then I pottered around and tried to be visible. It was painful and it still is but I am healing up beautifully.”

She is going back to the hospital tomorrow ‘to see what they have found’ and for detail about any further treatment needed.

She praised the Labour party activists who campaigned for her re-election when she could not.

“The machine of the campaign continued around me,” she said.

“They were out three times a day. People came from all over London to help because it was Kensington, because it was the Grenfell constituency, some people because it was me, which was lovely to know.”

Dent Coad lost her seat to Conservative candidate Felicity Buchan by 150 votes last Thursday.

She publicly blamed former Tory-turned-Lib Dem candidate Sam Gyimah for splitting the remain vote.

When leaving the count in the early hours of Friday morning, she said: “Congratulations to Sam Gyimah for screwing up Kensington.”

Gyimah had previously wrongly accused her of having a role as a local councillor, in discussing the flammable cladding used on Grenfell Tower, ending in Dent Coad reporting him to the police.

She said despite her illness, she didn’t think it would have made a difference to the result if she had been able to be out campaigning for herself in Kensington.

“We were facing a barrage of lies and nastiness throughout the campaign, which was a disgrace.”

Following her defeat, she has discussed her time as a female MP in a male-dominated environment.

Speaking of Parliament, she said: “It’s a horrible place to work actually.

“It’s really brutal, misogynistic and unkind.

“I’ve worked in very male-dominated environments before but that was the most horrible place I’ve ever worked as a woman.”

Dent Coad will continue her role as a councillor in Kensington and plans to continue campaigning on behalf of Grenfell victims and their families.

She has expressed she will be backing Rebecca Long-Bailey as the next Labour leader.

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By Will Cracknell and Matt Trinder
December 13 2019, 03.00
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Labour comfortably held their seat at Mitcham and Morden as Siobhain McDonagh was re-elected with 27,978 votes, a majority of 16,496.

Conservative candidate Toby Williams came a distant second place on 11,482 votes, with the Liberal Democrats’ Luke Taylor third on 3,717.

Jeremy Maddocks of the Brexit Party polled 1,202 votes, followed by the Green Party’s Pippa Maslin on 1,160, and Des Coke of the Christian Peoples Alliance last with 216 votes.

Ms McDonagh has recorded majorities in excess of 10,000 in every election since 1997.

She said: “It is my regret that as a national Labour Party we let many of our ers down tonight.

“Brexit is coming and a recession not far behind it.

“It will be very hard for the most excluded and the poorest in our community and we, the Labour Party, did that by allowing Boris Johnson and his MPs to win when they were so beatable.

“But not by us in our current state, I hope that over the next year the Labour Party will come to its senses.”

Runner up Mr Williams said: “It’s very encouraging to see the Conservative vote increase and the Labour majority significantly reduce.

“We could feel a number of Labour votes coming over to us during the campaign and I think this result shows that came to fruition at the ballot box.

“I would love to stand again, I have thoroughly enjoyed standing here. I think this is a great part of London – who knows where I will be in four or five years time. “

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Seema Malhotra comfortably held her Feltham and Heston seat having secured 24,876 votes.

By Jordan Camp and Mark Stillman
December 13 2019, 06.30
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Liberal Democrat candidate Hina Malik won 3,127 votes, Cosverative’s Jane Anne Keep gained 17,017, The Brexit Party’s Martyn Nelson won 1,658 votes while Green Party’s Anthony John Firkins gained 1,133 votes.

Ms Malhotra, who has held her seat since the 2011 by-election said: “Tonight is a difficult night for Labour.

“This is an election we should have won and we have work to do to reflect on what has happened. In Feltham and Heston the issues people have raised, the stories they have told show a community that has been deeply hurt by the consequences of austerity.

“Whether that is cuts to our policing, our health service or our schools, their needs remain my priority.

“The national vote has shown the need to end the Brexit uncertainty, however we move forward the voices of all our citizens must be heard in the Brexit debate.

“The government must allow for the proper scrutiny and transparency of its Brexit plans and the impact on local families and businesses. Above all it is vital to bring our divided country back together and that will take leadership from the top.

“I also want to thank my agents and all our team of volunteers, councillors, party activists and also many community getting involved for the first time.

“I have the best team and in really challenging circumstances they campaigned day after day, knocking on thousands of doors and delivering many thousands of leaflets, they are driven by a deep sense of purpose and ion, for the prosperity and wellbeing of our people and our nation and by respect for their fellow citizens, I could not be more proud of their hard work and resolve, particularly today.

“We all shoulder a huge responsibility at this challenging and uncertain time in our history, I pledge to play my part day in day out for the place I grew up and which has always given me so much and to continue to work with our residents and businesses across the constituency to see a better future for us all.

“Thank you to Feltham and Heston for re-electing me tonight.”

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By Tom Holmes
December 13 2019, 07.30
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy hailed Streatham’s diversity as she became MP for the constituency, securing a 54.8% vote share with 30,976 votes.

The newly-elected Labour MP spoke about the importance of fighting bigotry in all its forms, and how she intends to stand up to racism.

Ms Ribeiro-Addy was previously Diane Abbott’s chief of staff and as a result, has both first and second-hand experience of racism in politics.

Ms Ribeiro-Addy said: “One of the things I’m proudest of about Streatham is its diverse and rich community and I will not stand for anyone being attacked by bigotry.

“It’s really important to stand up and challenge that bigotry in positions of leadership because we currently have a PM who thinks it’s acceptable to use the N-word, to say Muslim women look like letterboxes, who thinks it’s acceptable to make derogatory remarks about people like us, and we have to stand up to that.

“Before politics, I never thought I’d see the N-word so much, I never thought I’d see emails with swastikas, I never thought I would be sent cards with monkeys on them and it is enough to ask yourself ‘Why would you put yourself up for office as a black woman?’

“But Diane Abbott has always taught me that if you don’t stand up and be counted, then the bigots win.”

Ms Ribeiro-Addy had praised the party for giving women and diverse candidates genuine chances in safe seats.

She also said that Ms Abbott was the best role model that she could have.

Labour’s vote share in Streatham dropped 13.7%, with the Liberal Democrats Helen Thompson finishing second, her party’s vote share up 17%.

And on a night where Labour finished with just 203 seats, 59 down on the 2017 election, Ms Ribeiro-Addy defended her party’s manifesto.

She said: “I will continue to fight for the manifesto we put forward because it was a manifesto that fought for what was right.

“The people of the country got behind this manifesto and we had a full plan for real change and it’s sad that things have gone this way.

“Moving forward as a party, we will need a leadership that continues to fight for that.

“I’m most worried about the people of Streatham and people across the UK who rely on our public services and will suffer because of what is about to happen.

“I’m flabbergasted and truly disappointed by what has happened tonight.”

Ms Ribeiro-Addy didn’t specify who she wanted to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, as the Labour leader announced he would not take the party into another election.

She wanted to keep the focus on her constituency and said that she had a lot of issues she was ready to tackle.

She added: “I don’t want to be in a situation where the people of Streatham end up suffering.

“When the first wave of Conservative austerity cuts hit, it was very clear that Labour councils were affected more than Tory councils and that cannot be allowed to happen again.

“I believe that being an MP shouldn’t be a job for life, it should be a job for as long as your constituents want them to represent you and they shall have every single opportunity to hold us to .

“That’s what I promise to do as an MP.”

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By Catrin Picton
December 13 2019, 09.00
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Felicity Buchan responded to a campaign dominated by Grenfell Tower by urging her own Conservative government to make the enquiry into the tragedy a top priority.

She also said it was vital for more investment into treatment for mental health.

Ms Buchan won Kensington by just 150 votes, polling 16,768 votes just ahead of Labour’s Emma Dent-Coad’s tally of 16,618 while the Liberal Democrats’ Sam Gyimah gained 9,312.

Ms Buchan said: “I’m delighted that the government is making mental health a priority – we are investing an additional £33.9bn in the NHS, £2.3bn of which will be for mental health provision.”

Mr Gyimah was parachuted into the constituency by the Lib Dems after he defected from the Conservatives as his party saw Kensington as a winnable seat.

In 2017, Ms Dent-Coad won Kensington by just 20 votes – making it England’s closest seat.

Grenfell continues to dominate the discourse in Kensington.

After her victory, Ms Buchan said: “I want to the North Kensington community who have obviously been through an awful lot in Grenfell tragedy.

“I think it’s critically important that we all look to get to the truth of what happened.

“We accept all of the recommendations of the enquiry.

“I want the truth to come out about Grenfell.

“I want to get to the truth and accept all the findings of the enquiry.

“It was an appalling tragedy, when I heard about it the first thing I did was write to Boris Johnson and ask him to make this a focus of his promotion.

“I want the first phase of the enquiry to be implemented with a sense of urgency.”

As the result was announced, shouts of ‘shame’ were heard from the crowd.

Outgoing MP Ms Dent-Coad said on Grenfell: “The government response has been woeful and the council response has been weak and patchy.”

She had pledged to speak out for the victims of Grenfell in Parliament until every single person felt safe in their home without the fear of a tragedy like Grenfell happening again.

itting to suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the Grenfell Tower fire, Ms Dent-Coad said: “We have 11,000 people in the area including myself who have various levels of PTSD and they haven’t been looked after properly so it’s been absolutely woeful.”

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By Michael Phillips
December 13 2019, 13.30
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Who was elected in each constituency and some facts about what went on at the polling stations.

• Labour gained only one seat in the whole of the UK, in Putney after losing 59 seats. It’s Labour’s first win in Putney since 2001. It’s a seat held formerly held by former Conservative Education Secretary Justine Greening. 
• In Kensington, the Conservative Felicity Buchan won with a narrow majority of 150. A row broke out between the former Conservative now Liberal Democrat MP Sam Gyimah and Labour’s Emma Dent Coad who whilst exiting the town hall said: “Congratulations to Sam Gyimah for screwing up Kensington.”
• Zac Goldsmith who was appointed by Boris Johnson to a ministerial role, lost his seat in Richmond to Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney. He has praised the Prime Minister for his 86-seat majority. 
• Lib Dem Tom Brake lost his seat in Carshalton and Wallington after 22 years to Conservative candidate Elliot Colburn. 
• First-time Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy vowed ‘not to give into bigotry’ after securing a 54.8% vote share with 30,796 votes.
• Lib Dem candidate Helen Thompson lost in Streatham but bounced the Tories into second place with a 23.5% vote share to Conservative Rory O’Broin’s 16%. 
• Chris Philp held Croydon South for the Conservatives after defeating his Labour rival Olga Fitzroy with a majority of 12,339 votes.  
• Conservative MP Paul Scully retained his seat for Sutton and Cheam. 
• Lib Dem Munira Wilson said she was “delighted, overwhelmed and over the moon” after winning the seat for Twickenham. 
• MP for Mitcham and Morden Siobhain McDonagh expressed regret that Labour had “let many of our ers down” nationally despite being re-elected last night. 
• Uxbridge and Ruislip MP Boris Johnson retained his seat with 25,351 votes and an increase on his last election turnout.        
• Milk supplies at the Chelsea and Fulham count ran out by 11.15pm.
• Chelsea and Fulham Tory MP Greg Hands retained his seat after his 2017 victory.      
• Labour MP Marsha de Cordova won Battersea with 27,290 votes defeating Kim Caddy who had 21,622. The Labour MP is currently the Shadow Minister for Disabled People and is legally blind, suffering from nystagmus, a condition that makes the eyes move involuntarily.
• Boris Johnson did not put a cross next to his own name on polling day after ing to vote in Westminster, rather than Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
• Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, Helen Hayes, received almost four times the votes for the second-placed Green Party.
• Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley came second in the Dulwich and West Norwood vote with Labour retaining the seat. He hit out at Labour for not ing the Unite to Remain alliance. 
• Conservative MP Stephen Hammond narrowly beat the Liberal Democrats in his Wimbledon seat. 
• Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab retained his seat for Esher and Walton despite a risk that he could lose to the Liberal Democrats. 
• Labour MP Seema Malhotra labelled her party’s evening as disastrous despite her personal success in Feltham and Heston. 
• Ruth Cadbury won for the Conservatives in Brentford and Isleworth with 29,266 votes – an impressive 10,514 more than the first-time Labour candidate comfortably . 
• Labour MP Steve Reed held Croydon North comfortably with 36,495 votes, a 65.6% share of the vote.

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By Will Cracknell and Ed Southgate
December 13 2019, 03.00
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The Conservative Party’s Stephen Hammond was narrowly re-elected in Wimbledon with 20,373 votes, a slender majority of just 628.

Liberal Democrat candidate Paul Kohler came a close second with 19,745 votes, a 22.7% vote share increase on 2017.

Labour’s Jackie Schneider was third on 12,543 votes and independent Graham Hadley fourth with 366 votes.

Mr Hammond, whose vote shared dropped by 8.1%, said: “It is an honour and privilege to have the trust of the Wimbledon constituents again.

“Tonight’s result is about looking to the future not the past. I have always strived to put the constituency first and in my next term I shall do so.

“I’d like to thank my fellow candidates for the honourable way this election has been fought and my congratulations to all of them on what they have done.

“I wish to thank my sister and particularly my daughter Alice and my wife Sally for their unfailing .”

Runner-up Paul Kohler, who received the highest ever number of Liberal Democrat votes in Wimbledon, said: “When canvassing, I found people rejected the extremism of the hard left and the hard right.

“Unfortunately, the progressive Liberals did not form an alliance. Our opponents did.

“The only reason we lost was because the Brexit Party and the Conservatives came together.

“Unfortunately from the progressive side, it was only the Greens and the Lib Dems who were the grown-ups in the room.”

Turnout rose 0.5% to 77.7%, the highest level recorded since the 80.2% recorded in 1992.

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By Will Cracknell and Ed Southgate
December 13 2019, 06.00
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Conservative Stephen Hammond pledged to represent the voice of moderate conservatism in Parliament after his narrow election victory in Wimbledon.

Mr Hammond, who beat Liberal Democrat rival Paul Kohler by just 628 votes, acknowledged the challenge he faces in balancing national and constituent interests as Wimbledon MP.

The constituency lies in Merton, which in 2016 voted to remain in the European Union by 62.9%.

Mr Hammond, whose vote share fell 8.1% its lowest ever percentage of 38.4%, said: “I’m a Conservative to my core about everything else. I want to be part of the more moderate wing of the Conservative Party which shapes the party’s future and our future relationship with the European Union.

“That will have a major impact on the next three or four years. Having spoken to the Prime Minister and looked at his political declaration, I am confident that we can get a future relationship with our former partners that will be advantageous to the both of us.

“Protecting EU citizens’ rights, achieving a good economic settlement and good diplomatic and security settlement – those are some of the things I will be working for.”

Mr Hammond’s victory means he will serve his fifth term as the member for Wimbledon and he maintained his party had ambitious plans for the years ahead.

He said: “Britain’s future is bright. This is an election about looking to the future, investment in public services, a stronger economy and a major investment in infrastructure in the United Kingdom.”

Mr Hammond was one of 21 Conservative MPs who had the whip removed when voting to block a no-deal Brexit in September.

Unlike colleagues such as David Gauke and Dominic Grieve however, Hammond was restored to the party.

With less than 1% of the vote separating first and second, Mr Hammond was under no illusion that he had faced a more uncomfortable night than many of his Conservative colleagues.  

He said: “It’s been very close run. I haven’t really had time to be nervous because we’ve been out there fighting for every vote.

“I respected there was quite a lot of opposition in comparison to last time round. It’s not a surprise – this is one of the great remain areas and a lot of people wanted to re-fight the referendum.

“In 2017 I said to people I would do my very best to stop no-deal and I kept that promise. The key is now we can start to talk about the future.”

Beaten Liberal Democrat candidate Paul Kohler, who saw his party’s vote share jump by 22.7% to 19,475, expressed his regret about the lack of pro-European collaboration in the constituency.   

He said: “When canvassing, I found people rejected the extremism of the hard left and the hard right.

“Unfortunately, the progressive Liberals did not form an alliance. Our opponents did.

“The only reason we lost was because the Brexit Party and the Conservatives came together.

“Unfortunately from the progressive side, it was only the Greens and the Lib Dems who were the grown-ups in the room. Other progressive Liberals didn’t.

“Many progressive social democrats in the Labour party didn’t us which I wish they had done.”

And Mr Kohler was optimistic that the additional 12,273 votes the Liberal Democrats gained in Wimbledon compared to 2017 would not be in vain.

He said: “We will build on the success we achieved here to make sure we win the council in three years’ time.

“I think I’ll run again. I think it’s worth another shot.”

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By Jordan Camp and Jack Francklin
December 13 2019, 09.00
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Paul Scully is keen to move forward with Conservative plans after he reclaimed the Sutton and Cheam seat for the third consecutive General Election.

Mr Scully walked to victory in the constituency as he picked up 25,235 votes, with Liberal Democrats being the closest competition as Hina Bokhari claimed 16,884.

Mr Scully said: “It looks like we have a good majority, a functioning, working majority which allows us to get stuff done, not just Brexit but getting the policemen on the street, the education and health funding as well.

“First thing I’m going to do on Monday morning is go into Parliament, swear in so that we can get Brexit done, next week is going to be really busy for all MPS so that we can finally finally unlock parliament.

“I was delighted that just before the election was called the health secretary awarded us half a billion pounds to go ahead with our hospital build, now the next five years is about getting that done.

“I can’t take my foot off the gas now that we’ve got the prospect of finally putting to bed the at least 20-year argument about saving St Helier, we can save it, with a solution here in the borough and that’ll be amazing for everybody.

The Labour candidate for Sutton and Cheam, Bonnie Craven, has openly accused Conservatives of under-funding St Helier but Mr Scully insists that is not the case.

He said: “My promises about St Helier are all based about what clinicians have decided, this isn’t a plan that has been formed by politicians this is the doctors and the managers of the hospital that work day in day out.

Frankly, it’s because politicians have got involved in the arguments rather than driving the action that has made it last this long, we could have sorted this out decades ago if we’d all been similar minded.

Looking ahead to the new year Mr Scully said: “We’ll enjoy our Christmas, there’s enough newsletters and political leaflets to wrap our presents with so we’ll put those to good use, and then back to it, there is a lot to do.”

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