Candidates react to Crawley general election result

Crawley has stayed true to the blue with Henry Smith holding the West Sussex seat for the Tories.
Crawley candidates from top left clockwise: Greens' Iain Dickson, Khalil Yousuf (Lib Dems), Henry Smith Conservatives, Peter Lamb LabourCrawley candidates from top left clockwise: Greens' Iain Dickson, Khalil Yousuf (Lib Dems), Henry Smith Conservatives, Peter Lamb Labour
Crawley candidates from top left clockwise: Greens' Iain Dickson, Khalil Yousuf (Lib Dems), Henry Smith Conservatives, Peter Lamb Labour

Mr Smith, who has been the town’s MP since 2010, held off a challenge from Labour’s Peter Lamb, taking the seat by 27,040 votes to 18,680.

The result saw him increase his majority from 2,459 to 8,360.

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The Liberal Democrats increased their share of the vote, with Khalil Yousuf’s 2,728 votes being 850 more than Marko Scepanovic managed in 2017.

Green candidate Iain Dickson secured a respectable 1,451 votes.

After his victory was announced by Returning Officer Natalie Brahma-Pearl, Mr Smith said: “I am very honoured and humbled to be elected as Member of Parliament for Crawley, I think it’s an unprecedented fourth time in Crawley’s history.”

He was right. The borough has only had three MPs since being separated from the Horsham constituency in 1983 – Nicholas Soames, Laura Moffatt and him.

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Mrs Moffatt managed three wins and once held the slimmest majority in the country, beating Mr Smith by just 37 votes in 2005.

He chose not to stay for interviews after this morning’s result was announced, leaving K2 leisure centre straight away.

Mr Lamb’s attention will now return to his role as leader of Crawley Borough Council – though he has no intention of abandoning his MP dreams.

He said the result was ‘disappointing’ and added: “Ultimately I tend to take the attitude that you’re only beaten when you refuse to get back up and go at it again.

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“I’ll be seeking nomination next time round and I believe that Crawley will benefit from having a Labour government and focussing on the public services that we currently know are failing in this town.”

Mr Yousuf said he was grateful for the ‘trust and confidence’ people had put him, adding: “I’m very proud of the campaign we have run. Our campaign is about building a brighter future for this country.

“When I was given the privilege of standing on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, I had one reason to work for a brighter future for the people of Crawley.

“Now, with all of these votes, I have thousands of little reasons.

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“This is not the end of our campaign, but the beginning. We will work hard over the coming days, weeks, months and years to represent every single person who has voted for us.”

Mr Dickson said: “I entered this election because I wanted to put forward to people the climate change issue and that I think is an important issue everyone has to get to grips with.”

He called on Mr Smith to take that thought to Parliament and for the government to ‘start taking action’.

Result:

Iain Dickson (Green) – 1,451

Peter Lamb (Labour) – 18,680

Henry Smith (Conservative) – 27,040

Khalil Yousuf (Lib Dem) – 2,728

Turnout – 68 per cent

Spoiled ballot papers – 194

Majority – 8,360