Bexleyheath and Crayford’s unsuccessful Conservative candidate blamed the Tory leadership’s lack of understanding of working class and suburban values for their defeat.
The constituency had been Conservative since 2005, but switched to Labour on Friday morning with Daniel Francis polling 15,717 votes compared to Mark Brooks’ 13,603.
Brooks was standing after David Evennett, who had sat in the seat for 19 years, announced he would stand down in May.
Brooks said: “The key thing is that the prime minister should have surrounded himself with Conservatives who fully understood the mood, the values, the hopes and aspirations of the spectrum of our country, including here in suburban London.
“He needed to show a respect and understanding of our working-class values.
“It’s important for the Conservatives in the future to be firmly in touch with people like me, sons of van drivers, daughters of nurses.
“They need to listen to them far more than they have done over the past five years.”
Reform polled 9,861 votes, the Liberal Democrats 2,204, and the Greens 2,076.
With a 13,000 majority in 2019, this success for Labour marks a huge swing in the constituency.
Voter turnout this time round was down 4.1% since the 2019 election, at 62%.
The loss for the Conservatives is indicative of a nationwide defeat, with more than 400 seats in Labour’s hands
Some seats in South London have remained blue, including Croydon South, Bromley and Biggin Hill, Orpington, and Old Bexley and Sidcup.
Labour’s Daniel Francis, who won in Bexleyheath and Crayford, told us: “Locally, we need to start conversations to repair train services and health provision as well as the national picture.
“I have lived in this borough my whole life and understand the priorities and aspirations of working people here.
“I have heard from local people and seen in the result that some people have expressed frustration in the way they have cast their vote.
“I can understand that frustration after 14 years of Conservative chaos and sticking plaster politics.
“Never again can we go back to that chaos, to a government who is more interested in looking after its mates, to breaking the rules rather than maintaining them, and which decides, for its own economic irresponsibility, to play fast and loose with the finances of the British people.”
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