Labour may have held onto all three Southwark seats, but nationally the party was completely trounced by Boris Johnson, as its ‘red wall’ in the midlands and the north turned blue.
- Neil Coyle kept Bermondsey and Old Southwark with more than 31,000 votes – 15,000 more than key challengers the Lib Dems
- Harriet Harman held onto Camberwell and Peckham with more than 40,000 votes
- Helen Hayes retained a stunning majority of 27,000 in Dulwich and West Norwood
- Voter turnout at around 63 per cent
- Jeremy Corbyn says he will step down as Labour leader before the next general election
Bermondsey and Old Southwark results
- Labour – 31,723
- Liberal Democrats – 15,597
- Conservatives – 9,678
- Brexit Party – 1,617
Labour held the seat with a majority of 16,126 votes and a 54.1 per cent share.
The Lib Dems share of votes went down by 4.5 per cent, and the Tories’ rose by 3.6 per cent.
Neil Coyle grew his majority by 3,154 more votes than in 2017.
Alex Matthews, the Brexit Party candidate, is the only one not to get his deposit back.
Camberwell and Peckham
- Labour – 40,258
- Conservatives – 6,478
- Liberal Democrats – 5,087
- Greens – 3,501
- Brexit Party – 1,041
- Workers’ Revolutionary Party – 127
Labour held the seat with 71.3 per cent of the vote and a majority of 33,780
Harman’s overwhelming majority did decrease, down by 3,536 votes compared to 2017.
The Greens and Lib Dems did increase their voting share by around 3 per cent each.
Neither the Brexit Party not Workers Revolutionary Party candidates will get their £500 deposits back after failing to secure 5 per cent of the vote.
Dulwich and West Norwood results
- Labour – 36,521
- Greens – 9,211
- Conservatives – 9,160
- Brexit Party – 571
- Christian People’s Alliance – 242
Helen Hayes’ voting share went down by 4.2 per cent as the Greens’ rose by 14 per cent.
She had 846 votes less than in 2017 but still posted an overwhelming majority of more than 27,000.
The Tories, second-place in 2017, went into third.
Provisional turnout was not as high as expected after images of long queues shared online at polling stations across south London.
Three candidates – the Brexit Party’s Julia Stephenson, Anthony Hodgson from the Christian Pepple’s Alliance, and UKIP’s John Plume did not achieve 5 per cent of the vote.
Across the country, out of the 649 seats declared, of a total of 650, the Conservatives took 364, with Labour of 203 (losing 42 constituencies) and the Lib Dems on 11.
In Scotland, the SNP have achieved 48 – turning nearly the entire country yellow and sparking calls for a second independence referendum.
Provisional turnout for both Bermondsey and Old Southwark and Camberwell and Peckham:
BoS: 63.2 per cent
CaP: 63.8 per cent— Southwark News (@Southwark_News) December 13, 2019
Despite pics of large queues outside polling stations today, that's actually a slight fall on 2017 turnout
2017 BoS turnout: 67 per cent
2017 CaP turnout: 67.1 per cent #GE2109— Southwark News (@Southwark_News) December 13, 2019
Dulwich and West Norwood was higher, at nearly 70 per cent.
Provisional turnout for Dulwich and West Norwood: https://t.co/2QyPintQFR
— Southwark News (@Southwark_News) December 13, 2019
Neil Coyle struck a conciliatory tone and thanked the other candidates with what he called a ‘clean’ fight.
Thank you to @cllrhumaira @agsbaker235 @apmmatthews for their commitment to Bermondsey & Old Southwark and for a strong but clean fight for Parliament in our community. Whatever the result, we can all take pride in a clean campaign.
— Neil Coyle (@coyleneil) December 13, 2019
Although Coyle was celebrating his result, it was grim for Labour overall.
He was quick to call for Corbyn’s resignation.
On prediction of 191 seats for Labour, Coyle adds: "We've not had that state of terrible results for 100 years."
— Southwark News (@Southwark_News) December 13, 2019
The News‘ chief reporter covering the count live on our twitter feed was unable to speak to the Liberal Democrat challenger, Humaira Ali.
News readers will know Simon Hughes’ former seat was a key target for the Lib Dems.
It was a bad night for the Lib Dems after their leader Jo Swinson lost her own East Dunbartonshire constituency to the SNP.
At the count at Tooley street last night, Bermondsey and Old Southwark Brexit Party candidate Alex Matthews said the election was “the most fun thing I’ve ever done” and predicted the Brexit Party getting “some seats”.
This didn’t come to pass, though his comments that ‘Labour has completely abandoned working class voters’ may gain more traction now the full results are in.
https://twitter.com/apmmatthews/status/1205307914707230720
And although the Conservatives failed to make headway in Bermondsey, candidate Andrew Baker was delighted with the party’s national performance.
.@agsbaker235 Conservative candidate for Bermondsey and Old Southwark says he's really pleased with exit poll prediction. "It's really good, obviously it's only a prediction but it's a ringing endorsement of our message and a through rejection of Jeremy Corbyn's" pic.twitter.com/OanZHzcZUh
— Southwark News (@Southwark_News) December 13, 2019
In Camberwell and Peckham, Green Party candidate Claire Sheppard described the election as the “death knell of the two party system” and the exit poll as “terrifying for the country”.
"I think this election might be the death knell of the two party system."
Sheppard doesn't expect to win the safe Lab seat, but adds: "I feel very proud because I feel like have got my deposit back and hopefully a little bit more of the vote share as well." #GE2109— Southwark News (@Southwark_News) December 13, 2019
Meanwhile, Peter Quentin, the Conservative candidate for Camberwell and Peckham said he was fed up of the party being described as ‘hard line’ and lacking moderates claiming their manifesto is “basically Labour’s manifesto in 2001”.
He says "he's not having any of it" when people suggest that the Conservative Party isn't moderate. "Look at our manifesto. It's basically Labour's manifesto in 2001 and now people are saying it's a hardline Tory Party? It's just not born out by the facts." #GE2019
— Southwark News (@Southwark_News) December 13, 2019