For the record , here are the results for Rayleigh and Wickford, Rochford and Southend East, and Castle Point:
Rayleigh and Wickford
Conservative Mark Francois 36,914 66.7% +12.1%
Labour Mark Daniels 13,464 24.3% +11.7%
UKIP Peter Smith 2,326 4.2% -18.1%
Lib Dems Ron Tindall 1,557 2.8% -0.2%
Green Party Paul Hill 1,062 1.9% -1.0%
Rochford and Southend East
Conservative James Duddridge 23,013 48.7% +2.3%
Labour Ashley Dalton 17,465 37.0% +12.3%
Independent Ron Woodley 2,924 6.2% +6.2%
UKIP Neil Hookway 1,777 3.8% -16.8%
Lib Dem Peter Gwizdala 1,265 2.7% -0.7%
Green Party Simon Cross 804 1.7% -3.3%
Castle Point
Conservative Rebecca Harris 30,076 67.3% +16.4%
Labour Joe Cooke 11,204 25.1% +11.2%
UKIP David Kurten 2,381 5.3% -25.9%
Lib Dem Tom Holder 1,049 2.3% +0.6%
For the Conservatives, three held seats, with one win narrower than they would have liked.
For Labour, three results they should be happy with.
For UKIP , a massive decline in votes in line with the national trend.
For the Lib Dems, results similar to last time, we will be more prepared next time!
For independent Ron Woodley , a saved deposit!
For the Greens, a step backward.
Our local results seem to underline the growing trend towards a return to a hard right v hard left form of politics –
both Conservatives and Labour making significant gains at the cost of the ‘ other’ parties.
So we must have a rump of Blue-rinse folk who are not impacted by the (now) long term austerity measures and
a rump of the rest who have been impacted by said measures – to pay off the unprecedented level of borrowing
debts by all shades of government in the last 30 years ; and that borrowing still continues!!!.
Hard right v hard left does’nt bode well for the coming Parliament debates ( especially with a small majority ) and I suspect a change of PM in a matter of months – dust off your tin hats folks , it is gonna be bumpy……….again.
There are no winners here, the whole country has lost. Two elections called for no other purpose than to bolster political influence and assert authority in Westminster. And what are we left with, the UK split Leave / Remain and Left / Right in equal measure. We are facing 2, 3 or 4 years of uncertainty and upheaval at a crucial time in our history and we’re up poo creek sans paddle. No wonder we are all sick to the back teeth of politicians. 😡😡😡😡
Or it could be 2,3,4 decades of uncertainty if we get things wrong. Saw the piece below earlier this evening at http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/06/13/dont-laugh-at-us-argentina/