Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
BORIS HOLDS HIS SEAT AND HIS POST
HILLINGDON KEEPS ALL ITS INCUMBENT MPS BUT SEES SIGNIFICANT SWING TOWARDS LABOUR
DESPITE a tumultuous election night across the country the London Borough of Hillingdon chose to retain all its MPs on election day.
Turnouts for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Hayes and Harlington and Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner were all higher than the 2015 election.
Both Tory seats were won with healthy majorities but Labour made significant gains in both to go with John McDonnell further extending his lead.
Uxbridge and South Ruislip
The first seat to be called at Brunel University’s count was awarded to Boris Johnson, who increased his vote count to 23,716, up from 22,511 in 2015.
The Foreign Secretary arrived at the sports hall and was briskly whisked through to the counting area where he turned his back to the gathered media.
He made a brief acceptance speech, refusing to comment on rumours he will be vying to take on Theresa May in a leadership contest.
The main story from the constituency was the huge Labour swing, with candidate Vincent Lo increasing the party’s vote count by around 7,000 and halving the gap between Tories and Labour to just 5,000.
“It’s early to comment on the events unfolding tonight in this General Election but one thing is absolutely clear I think to all of us who are being elected as MPs tonight across our fantastic country and that is we’ve got to listen to our constituents and listen to their concerns,” said Mr Johnson.
The comments appear to be a reaction to a worse performance by the Conservatives than expected.
Boris Johnson – CON – 23,716 Vincent Lo – LAB – 18,682 Rosina Robson – LD 1,835 Elizabeth Kemp – UKIP –1,577 Mark Keir –GREEN – 884 Turnout 66.87% Spoiled ballots – 83
Hayes and Harlington
From the second he walked in, John McDonnell told the press “as soon as we get the opportunity we will form a government”.
The incumbent, who has been Shadow Chancellor for more than two years, retained his seat, boosting his majority from around 15,000 to over 18,000 votes.
The leader vowed to continue to work hard within the community as an MP as well as raising concerns in parliament, a statement which may refer to a future front bench role in a possible Labour government.
“The electorate wanted to talk about more than Brexit,” he said.
“They wanted to talk about what’s happening in our health service: the waiting lists going up, people being treated in corridors, the underfunding but also to be frank the exploitation of our health staff.
“It cannot be right that in the fifth largest economy in the world we have nurses who have to depend on food banks to survive.”
Greg Smith, the Conservative candidate who came second, caused a stir by calling Mr McDonnell a c ommunist.
“I sincerely hope as the results unfold that there is a Conservative government elected to govern us for the next Parliament and not a gov- ernment that is inspired by Das Kapital, Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book and the things we have seen uncovered from the modern extreme left Labour Party.”
The comments were met with boos and heckles of “grow up” not just from Labour supporters but also among Greens and Lib Dems.
John McDonnell – LAB – 31,792 Greg Smith – CON – 13,681 Cliff Dixon – UKIP – 1,153 Bill Newton Dunn – LD – 601 John Bowman – GREEN– 571 Turnout 65.41% Spoiled Ballots – 118