Despite the national trend, Old Bexley and Sidcup remained a ‘true Blue’ seat with its MP vowing to hold the mayor of London to account.
Louie French was elected to the seat in a 2021 bye-election and held on to it with 17,910 votes.
Labour’s Edward Jones came in second with 14,362 votes with Reform’s Maxine Fothergill third with 10,384.
French said: “It’s been a tough local election, but I’m really pleased that people have proudly re-elected me to serve them in parliament locally and importantly, against Sadiq Khan in London.
“I know what I’m elected to do, I will serve my community seven days a week and am proud to do so.”
The Conservatives won a by-election in 2021, with a 51.5% vote share, followed by Labour with 30.9%.
Voter turnout this time round was 4.3% down since the 2019 election, at 65.3%.
Reform candidate Fothergill said: “The Tories might be saying that we caused their loss nationally, but they deserved to lose because the Conservative party hasn’t been a Conservative party for years.
“We are a Conservative party with a different name really. We have all the values of the Conservatives we traditionally know.”
When asked how Reform would influence the Houses of Parliament when so different to Labour, Fothergill said: “Question Time is going to become like Coronation Street in the future which will be good because it will bring entertainment which will encourage more kids to get into politics.
“To have strong opposing opinions can only be healthy, it’s about democracy.”
She was also asked why voters did not back the Conservatives as strongly as in the past.
She said: “I think the lack of trust, the things that came out like Partygate.
“I also think that Boris Johnson turned from Conservative to a middle-of-the-road liberal.”
The Old Bexley and Sidcup seat used to be held by former Conservative Prime Minister, Edward Heath, who represented the constituency for 18 years.
Feature image courtesy of Louie French’s office
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