Conservatives could keep Chichester, exit polls suggest
The Conservative Party could be set to hold firm in Chichester, if exit polls are to be believed – despite early forecasts pointing to a Labour victory nationwide.
A Conservative Party stronghold since 1924, Chichester is expected to stay blue this year, with exit polls predicting an 85 per cent chance of a Conservative holding, with Secretary of Education Gillian Keegan winning out over Liberal Democrat rival Jessica Brown Fuller, who has a 15 per cent chance of winning, according to Sky News.
The national picture could not be more different, with most exit polls pointing towards a dramatic, earthquake win for Labour leader Keir Starmer – who is expected to win a majority of 170 hits. This could mean big changes for Sussex – home to several ‘true blue’ constituencies, Chichester among them, which may well change hands for the first time in several generations.
The party’s majority has been slipping in Chichester, albeit only slightly, since 2015. That year, they won a majority voteshare of 24,413, which shrunk to 21,490 in 2019. This is in contrast to the increasing turnout, from 68.5 per cent in 2015 to 71.6 per cent in 2019.