Redwood stays in, while Labour doubles its vote
WOKINGHAM once again returned John Redwood as its MP with an increased majority – but Labour more than doubled its second place showing.
Mr Redwood has been the constituency MP since 1987 and, speaking to The Wokingham Paper, vowed to get straight back to work on Friday, June 9, promising to set up his Westminster office once again.
Labour cut Mr Redwood’s majority from 24,197 in 2015 to 18,798 – however, more people voted Conservative than any other party: Mr Redwood polled 33,806 while his total opposition was 25,884.
The Liberal Democrats came third and also increased the share of their vote.
Only the Green party, in fourth place, lost ground over their 2015 showing.
The difference between 2015 and 2017 is that UKIP didn’t field a candidate, and Kaz Lokuciewski didn’t stand as an independent.
Writing on his blog after the vote, Mr Redwood said that he tried to make changes to the Conservative manifesto and thought that the campaign would have resulted in a majority for the Conservatives.
He also felt that the presidential style of Theresa May’s team set the wrong note for their campaign:
“When I saw the campaign theme and materials based around strong and stable leadership I felt the need to say something more to my electors, and to remind them that the local election was still about judging a local candidate to be MP, as well as choosing a national party to govern,” he wrote.
“I spent the last few days in hope that there was sufficient momentum from the early campaign and sufficient doubts about the credibility of Labour’s programme to give the Conservatives a modest majority.
“I was well aware there was no chance of a landslide, and thought it odd the seats the Conservatives were targeting which looked far too hard to win.
“Near to the poll I saw the enthusiasm of young voters and sensed the pro-Labour mood. It was obvious the Lib Dems were going to be badly squeezed by Labour who had the better offer for young people.
“I had tried to get the party to run on Prosperity, not austerity. I had wanted more prominence for tax reductions for workers and savers, more messages on promoting and strengthening the recovery, more about skills, training, education and better paid jobs.
“I was one of those urging the promise of more money for schools in the Manifesto which we did get, but we were outbid by Labour.”