Labour MP Peter Kyle held his Hove seat with a huge majority two years after winning the constituency from the Conservatives against the national swing by just over a thousand votes.
Mr Kyle won the backing of 36,942 voters – or 64.1 per cent – with Conservative candidate Kristy Adams picking up 18,185 votes – or 31.6 per cent.
He now has a majority of 18,757. The turnout was 77.6 per cent – the highest across Brighton and Hove – and reflected in part the work that the two main candidates put in to getting out the vote.
The Liberal Democrat candidate Carrie Hynds came third with 1,311 votes and Phélim Mac Cafferty finished fourth with 971 votes. Independent candidate Charley Sabel received 187.
Mr Kyle benefited from what Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called his policy on cake – he wanted to have it and eat it.
Mr Kyle has been an outspoken critic of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – and part of his pitch to voters was that it was safe to vote for him in Hove as Mr Corbyn would not win the election.
But he has also won the support of people – many of them young people – inspired by Mr Corbyn to join Labour and vote for the party.
Mr Kyle said that Prime Minister Theresa May had wanted a blank cheque from voters but had failed to make her case.
He spoke about both party leaders and the importance of putting a winning offer to voters when he appeared on The Vote on Latest TV in October last year.
Hove
Peter Kyle (Labour) 36,942
Kristy Adams (Conservative) 18,185
Carrie Hynds (Liberal Democrat) 1,311
Phelim Mac Cafferty (Green) 971
Charley Sabel (Independent) 187
Majority 18,757
Turnout 57,596 (77.6 per cent)
The Tories put an unsuitable candidate into Hove to stand against a diligent incumbent whose involvement in the Constituency with residents has been huge and always appreciated.
How Peter handles upcoming major redevelopments will either cement his approval rating or freak people out and lose him the next election.
A bonus in this Election result is that Gerald Wiley has gone quiet.
Thank you Mr Carnegie, however, the report of my death was an exaggeration.
I’m actually pleased that Peter Kyle won – he is a great asset to the Hove and Portslade – it was just unfortunate he stood under the Corbyn Labour banner.
I’m amazed to see that poor old Phelim did even worse than you did last time around when you got just over 5% of the votes. He only got 1.7% of the votes and lost his deposit. Do you think it could be due to his support for the closure of Hove Museum?
Do you agree it is time for the “One MP Greens” to close the shop and merge with Labour?
Anyway – better luck next time 😀
You previously asserted that you did not want Peter Kyle to win.
Meanwhile, in 2005 I upped the Green vote to almost 7% (and beat ukip) rather than the 5% you keep mentioning.
I do not see what Hove Museum has to do with it. Phelim was squeezed in these extraordinary, and very interesting, circumstances. As a whole, across Britain, the Green vote dropped by just 2% (unlike ukip’s 11%). As such, the Green vote is spread too thinly (I can yet see an interesting Isle of Wight, a better bet, to me, than Bristol), but it is significant that many Green ideas turned up in the Labour manifesto – to evident effect.
Meanwhile, it is worth reflecting on a voting system which means that these frightful DUP bigots got just 292,000 votes but ten seats while the Greens got almost twice those votes and one seat.
Will you be sitting at your desk during the East Brighton by-election or out and about on the hills there?
Oh dear Christopher – you must learn to read.
1. I don’t support a Labour led government. I do think Peter is a good MP, but I didn’t vote for him. Which part don’t you understand?
2. 7% is only a little bit more than 5%. I know you need to make it seem wonderful, but you didn’t win. And your mate Phelim did even worse – great advert to what the residents think of the calibre of the lead convener. He should have withdrawn and saved wasting his deposit.
3. Ah – the museum – you must learn to remember what happened with the proposal to merge the Hove library with Hove museum to reduce costs and improve services, but as you well know, Phelim supported your short-sighted lie that the library was to close and helped finance keeping library services in the wretched Carnegie. Now the restaurant in the museum has closed meaning job losses.
4. You must get over the fact that we have a FPTP system and that you’ve only got 1 seat. To me that is one too many and the system requiring broad support across an area to get seats works.
5.Perhaps if you managed to get suitable candidates with policies that have USPs. Do you really think Caroline got elected because of your manifesto, or because she is a good representative for her constituency?
6. Both Green and Labour policies were almost Identical – probably because you have almost identical target voters. And the solution to this situation is?
7. Did the Greens have any candidates in Northern Ireland?
7. Why would I want to walk the hills of East Brighton?
Send finally, perhaps you should stop encouraging me to respond to your childish posts.
Eggs over easy is evidently not the start of a sunny Sunday morning for you. It’s full-on hard boiled in the Wiley camper van on the A34 lay-by.
Your tragedy – the unexamined life – is that you sit on the sidelines and issue rules for living to those who are actually out there and trying to do things by their own lights. As I say, you might find it illuminating to hear what people have to say during the East Brighton by-election (as I have twice done).
An increase in the vote is a good thing if the intention is to build it up (as happened over thirteen years in Pavilion before 2010). Meanwhile in Hove etc., the Boundary changes will be interesting (and perhaps the Government will await these, though it will be rocky till then, and the Parliamentary vote on the changes could be rather lively).
Presumably FPTP leaves you thrilled at the advent of the DUP.
Peter Kyle can serve the substantial Hove Jewish community by ensuring antiemetic perceptions in the Labour Party are addressed head on. Very clear message from the hustings.