United Kingdom general election, 2017 (Essex)

United Kingdom general election, 2017
Essex
8 June 2017 (2017-06-08)
All 18 Essex seats to the House of Commons
Turnout 68.0% Increase 1.1%

  First party Second party
 
Leader Theresa May Jeremy Corbyn
Party Conservative Labour
Leader since 11 July 2016 12 September 2015
Last election 17 seats, 95.5% 0 seat, 0%
Seats before 17 0
Seats won 18 0
Seat change Increase1 Steady
Popular vote 528,949 261,671
Percentage 59.0% 29.2%
Swing Increase9.4% Increase9.8%

Colour on map indicate winning party for each constituency.
Prime Minister before election

Theresa May
Conservative

 Subsequent Prime Minister

Theresa May
Conservative

The 2017 United Kingdom general election in Essex was held on 8 June 2017 and all 18 seats were contested under the First past the post electoral system.

The general election in Essex came after the 2016 EU referendum and 2017 local elections. Essex voted heavily to leave the EU with 62.3% of the population voting to leave and 37.6% voting to Remain in the EU. Notably, the areas in which UKIP did best were the areas in which the Leave vote was highest, for example, Clacton, Thurrock, South Basildon and Castle Point. The most Remain voting areas were Colchester, Chelmsford and Saffron Walden.

The local elections in 2017 saw the Conservatives return to Essex County Council as the largest party. The local elections evidenced a large increase in the vote and seat shares for the Conservatives. They retained control of the County Council and picked up 12 seats from the Labour Party, UKIP (which had seen a complete wipe-out in the county), the Liberal Democrats and Green Party. This result equated to their largest number of seats since 2009 and their largest share of the vote since at least 1981. In this election, Labour lost 2 seats, but gained one from the Liberal Democrats. Despite this result, Labour increased their vote share in areas which had been strongholds for them.

Campaign

Theresa May's decision to call a 'snap' general election was greeted by the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron as an "opportunity to stop a disastrous hard Brexit" and to "change the direction of our country."[1] Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the decision as a chance to "to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first" citing inequalities in pay and labour.[2]

Conservatives

Essex was one county in which Prime Minister Theresa May made no visit to. However, local constituency Conservative groups launched their own campaigning. In Chelmsford campaigning began on 1 May and prospective Conservative candidate Vicky Ford held surgeries for voters.[3] In Brentwood and Ongar, prospective Conservative candidate Alex Burghart met with local farmers in the area and spoke about local crime and fly tipping with them.[4] In marginal Thurrock, Jackie Doyle-Price enlisted the help of her 2015 'battle bus' to campaign across the constituency. High-profile Conservative politicians Eleanor Laing, Matthew Hancock and John Wittingdale all joined to campaign.[5]

Labour

One of Jeremy Corbyn's first campaign stops of the campaign was in marginal seat, Harlow. Corbyn criticised the UK's "housing crisis, with runaway rents and unaffordable housing" and argued that "in Harlow we have a Labour council who are building council homes. We are getting new council housing here in Harlow."[6] Corbyn visited an elderly couple who were living in a newly built council house before speaking in Harlow Town Park to a group of supporters. He promised to build 1 million new council houses, a key part of his campaign.[7]

Jeremy Corbyn at Harlow Town station meeting voters during the early campaigning period.

Essex remained a county in which neither party leaders visited much. With Jeremy Corbyn seeking to branch out into Conservative marginals[8] (of which were few in Essex), he resorted to targetting areas with a more favourable demographic, notably Harlow and also Basildon.

On 1 June 2017, Corbyn attended a rally in Pitsea, Basildon where he delivered a keynote speech on his Brexit and immigration policies. He was joined by Sir Keir Starmer, Barry Gardiner and Emily Thornberry to give the speech in which he argued that the Conservative Party's policy of 'no Brexit deal is better than a bad Brexit deal' would be 'damaging'.[9] He established Labour's position of the Brexit negotiations:

"[Labour wants] a deal that will allow us to upgrade our economy through public investment in infrastructure and high skilled jobs... A deal that allows us to transform Britain into a country with the strongest rights and protections, and ends exploitation and undercutting in the labour market... And a deal that will allow Britain to be a safe and outward looking country, strengthening friendships and working with allies to create a better future for our country, continent and our planet."[9]

It was also at this rally in which Labour confirmed that they would not be involved in any 'deals' with other minor parties if they returned to Parliament with the most seats but had to form a minority government. Corbyn and Thornberry both rejected calls to enter into pacts with the Green Party or Liberal Democrats.[10] Keir Starmer then established Labour's intention not to have immigration reduced to 10,000s as proposed by the Conservative Party's manifesto. The combined nature of establishing Brexit negotiations:

“Britain is leaving the EU. But let’s be clear, there is no such thing as ‘no deal’. If we leave without a positive agreement because we have needlessly alienated everyone, we still have to trade with the EU. But on what terms? Theresa May says no deal is better than a bad deal. Let’s be clear: ‘no deal’ is in fact a bad deal. It is the worst of all deals because it would leave us with World Trade Organisation tariffs and restrictions, instead of the access to European markets we need. That would mean slapping tariffs on the goods we export - an extra 10 per cent on cars - with the risk that key manufacturers would leave for the European mainland, taking skilled jobs with them. In sector after sector, ‘no deal’ could prove to be an economic disaster - Theresa May’s approach risks a jobs meltdown across Britain.”[11]

This speech gave clarity to the previous views that Labour had been 'vague and meaningless'[12] and confirmed Labour's commitment to Brexit and not to another referendum.

UKIP

UKIP leader, Paul Nuttall campaigns in Clacton with UKIP candidate Paul Oakley.

Until the 25th March 2017, Clacton had been held by Douglas Carswell, who then resigned from UKIP to become an independent. In the event of Carswell standing for re-election, prominent party donor and millionaire, Arron Banks announced he would stand against Carswell.[13] When Carswell refused to stand again, Banks withdrew his candidacy and endorsed UKIP candidate Jeff Bray who was elected by the local party by 3 votes over Paul Oakley.[14]

Carswell's decision not to contest the seat gave UKIP a chance to win back the seat. Bray was chosen as a popular and local candidate, however was replaced by Oakley. by the party's National Executive Committee Bray resigned in protest.[15] On 20 May, UKIP leader, Paul Nuttall visited the constituency on the UKIP battle bus a day late visiting after the wing mirror of the battle bus was knocked off by a passing lorry.[16]

Nuttall made a speech saying "we are putting the country above the party which is an honourable thing to do. We are only half way there- we have won the war and now we have to win the peace and get full control of our waters and borders" which gained a small audience.[17] On 2 June, former party leader and MEP, Nigel Farage visited the constituency meeting voters on Clacton Pier.[18]

In Thurrock, Nigel Farage also visited and campaigned with Tim Aker who contested the previous general election in Thurrock, gaining 30% of the vote. Farage and Aker met local supporters in Grays, signed autographs and then carried out a series of interviews at UKIP’s Grays HQ with the national and local media.[19]

Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron made no campaign stop in Essex despite the seat of Colchester voting marginally to leave the EU and previously been a Liberal Democrat seat held by Bob Russell. Russell was chosen to run for the seat again and followed the national campaign aims to have a second referendum on the terms of the Brexit negotiations.[20]

Results

Party Seats Seats
change		 Seats
contested		 Votes Votes, of total (%) Change (%)
Conservative 18 Increase 1 18 528,949 59.0 Increase9.4
Labour 0 Steady 18 261,671 29.2 Increase9.8
Liberal Democrat 0 Steady 18 46,254 5.1 Decrease1.5
UKIP 0 Decrease 1 16 41,478 4.6 Decrease15.6
Green 0 Steady 13 12,343 1.3 Decrease1.7
BNP 0 Steady 2 640 0.07 Increase0.06
Christian 0 Steady 2 318 0.03 Decrease0.01
English Democrat 0 Steady 1 289 0.03 Decrease0.02
YPP 0 Steady 1 110 0.01 Increase0.01
Independent 0 Steady 5 4,179 0.4 Decrease0.3
Turnout 896,231 68.0%

Votes summary

Popular vote
Conservative
  
 59.0%
Labour
  
 29.2%
Liberal Democrats
  
 5.1%
UKIP
  
 4.6%
Green
  
 1.3%
Other
  
 0.54%
Parliament seats
Conservative
  
 100%

Target seats

Labour Party

Rank Constituency Winning party 2015 Swing Required Labour's place 2017 Result
1 Thurrock Conservative 0.7% 2nd Conservative hold
2 Colchester Conservative 10.6% 2nd Conservative hold
3 Rochford and Southend East Conservative 11.7% 2nd Conservative hold
4 Harlow Conservative 15.6% 2nd Conservative hold

Liberal Democrats

Rank Constituency Winning party 2015 Swing Required Liberal Democrats' place 2017 Result
1 Colchester Conservative 21.0% 3rd Conservative hold

UKIP

Rank Constituency Winning party 2015 Swing Required UKIP's place 2017 Result
1 Thurrock Conservative 18.7% 3rd Conservative hold

Individual MPs

Re-elected MPs

Of the 18 sitting MPs at the dissolution of Parliament, 14 stood for re-election:

Essex MPs

As of July 2017, the list of Essex MPs are as follows:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tim Farron reacts to snap UK general election.". http://www.standard.co.uk/. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017. External link in |website= (help)
  2. ↑ "BBC News: Jeremy Corbyn welcomes early general election.". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017. External link in |website= (help)
  3. ↑ "Chelmsford Conservative Party election campaign launched". Chelmsford Conservatives. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "Conservative Election Candidate Meets Brentwood and Ongar Farmers". Brentwood and Ongar Conservatives. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "May 16: Battle Bus campaign". Twitter. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn promises one million homes on visit to Harlow Town Park.". http://www.essexlive.news/. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017. External link in |website= (help)
  7. ↑ "Party leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron target key seats in the region". https://www.itv.com/. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017. External link in |website= (help)
  8. ↑ "Jeremy Corbyn campaigning". The Independent. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Labour Leader Corbyn gives Brexit speech in Basildon". Essex Live News. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Thornberry and Corbyn take questions". The Guardian. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  11. ↑ "Corbyn brands 'no deal' Brexit option an ‘economic disaster’.". Politics Home. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  12. ↑ "This is what Keir Starmer should have said when questioned about Labour's position on Brexit". The Independent. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  13. ↑ "Ukip's Arron Banks to set up pirate radio station on fishing trawler off the Essex coast if he is selected as Clacton candidate". The Telegraph. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  14. ↑ "UKIP's Clacton candidate dropped in 'shambolic' move". BBC News. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Election 2017: Clacton UKIP candidate quits party after he is dropped by national HQ". East Anglian Daily Times. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  16. ↑ "Damaged UKIP battle bus postpones Clacton visit". BBC News. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  17. ↑ ""We have won the war, now we are going to win the peace": UKIP's Paul Nuttall confident they can hold Clacton in General Election". Clacton and Frinton Gazette. 21 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  18. ↑ "Nigel Farage campaigning in Clacton". ITV News. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  19. ↑ "Farage in Grays to support UKIP campaign". Thurrock and South Essex Independent. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  20. ↑ "Veteran Lib Dem Sir Bob Russell WILL stand against Tory rival in General Election". Daily Gazette. 22 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.

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