We didn’t quite make it here in Eastleigh.
~1500 votes more (a.k.a. a ~1.5% swing), and we would have secured a Conservative MP in what was the most difficult of national circumstances. It is painful to take, but, unfortunately, that is politics.
With the benefit of a few days of hindsight though, we can take a broad look at the results in this constituency and they are – in the national context – ‘remarkable.’ Two key insights are worth sharing:
- We achieved the lowest swing against the Conservative Party in any Conservative-held seat across Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
- We pushed the Eastleigh constituency from the ~280th most Conservative seat in the country to the 160th most Conservative. With this relative seat ranking, we would have won in any other election since 1906.
We promise to keep fighting for the people of Eastleigh.
