Lib Dems celebrate triple win in Cambridgeshire

Lib Dems celebrate triple win in Cambridgeshire BBC News, Cambridgeshire Ballots from six Cambridgeshire constituencies have led to a damaging night for the Conservatives and an impressive gain for the Liberal Democrats.

The Liberal Democrats took conservative seats from Ely and East Cambridgeshire, St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire, and South Cambridgeshire.

The Conservatives held onto Huntingdon and Steve Barclay retained his seat in North East Cambridgeshire, Labour also kept its hold on Cambridge.

Although the evening saw a huge change to Cambridgeshire's MPs, there was a notable fall in votes compared to the 2019 general elections.

'A difficult night' Stephen Barclay retained the North East Cambridgeshire seat for the Conservatives with a vastly reduced majority of 16,246 votes, followed by Reform UK with 9,057 and Labour which attained 8,008.

He said the win was "against a very difficult night for the conservatives".

"Many friends and many good colleagues will have lost their seats and many people who voted for the conservatives last time were not able to do so this time.

"I have been engaging every day of the campaign and heard concerns and I think it us incumbent on us all to go away and reflect on what people have said so we can ensure that our conservative values are ones that they identify with going forward."

'Close margin' Charlotte Cane took Ely and East Cambridgeshire for the Liberal Democrats, replacing Conservative Lucy Frazer.

She won 17,127 votes, 495 more than her Tory rival who deemed it a "close margin".

Ms Cane said her first job would be to improve social housing in the constituency and praised leader Sir Ed Davy who drew attention to their policies with his stunts.

Ms Frazer, the former MP for East Cambridgeshire said it was a honour to serve the people of East Cambridgeshire and said that the reason the Conservatives lost was due to the party being divided.

Labour candidate Daniel Zeichner was re-elected in Cambridge, a seat he has held since 2015.

He achieved 19,614 votes compared to second place Liberal Democrats on 8,536.

Voter turnout in Cambridge was 60.4%.

This is a drop from the 2019 general election, where turnout was 67.2%.

'Historic moment' Pippa Heylings has been elected as the new Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, taking the seat from the Conservatives.

She takes the seat from Conservative Anthony Browne, who ran for the Tories in St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire this time round.

She said the result was a "historic moment for the Liberal Democrats nationally, and here in South Cambridge".

"No matter how you voted in this election I reinstate my commitment to you," she said.

"I hear you, I will fight for you, for a positive and inclusive future for South Cambridge.

"Whenever decisions are being taken in Westminster [I will] make sure our needs are understood."

Meanwhile, Ian Sollom of the Liberal Democrats has taken the seat from Conservative candidate Anthony Browne in St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire.

He gained 19,517 votes - a 4,621 majority over Mr Browne.

Shortly afterwards Mr Browne joked that his loss would mean he would be going down to the job centre tomorrow - and that it is a shame it is in Huntingdon and not St Neots.

'Beaten the odds' Ben Obese-Jecty has been elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Huntingdon.

He won with 18,257 votes, with a margin of fewer than 2,000 votes. He holds the seat vacated by Jonathan Djanogly.

Mr Obese-Jecty says he is very pleased to have "beaten the odds".