General Election 2024: Liberal Democrats secure historic win in Horsham to end 144 years of Conservative rule in constituency

In a historic result, Horsham will have a non-Conservative MP for the first time since 1880.

It was announced that Mr Milne had won with 21,632 votes (39 per cent share), a majority of 2,517.

Conservative MP Jeremy Quin, who held the seat from 2015, took 19,115 votes (34.4 per cent share).

Reform UK candidate Hugo Miller finished third, with 6,116 votes (11 per cent share), despite being deselected.

Turnout was 70 per cent – a 2.50 per cent drop since 2019.

Posting on X, the Horsham Liberal Democrats said: “Congratulations to John Milne, the new MP for Horsham!

“And thank you to all those that supported John’s campaign for a better Horsham.

“We did this together!”

Also posting on X, Mr Quin said: “It has been an enormous honour to be able to serve as Member of Parliament for Horsham for the last 9 years.

“I have throughout my time as MP always sought to be approachable and engaged and I have been humbled by so many lovely comments on the doorstep from people I have felt privileged to be able to help.

“I am also proud of what has been achieved for our constituency over that period and for the campaigns I have been helping to run for some brilliant constituents.

“I am very sorry not to have been returned to continue to serve Horsham, both personally and for my hugely dedicated parliamentary team. Horsham is the most wonderful constituency full of the most amazing people. I wish my successor well for the future.”

The full results were: John Milne (Liberal Democrats), 21,632; Jeremy Quin (Conservative), 19,115; Hugo Miller (Reform UK), 6,116; James Field (Labour), 5,979; Catherine Ross (Green), 2,137; Jim Duggan (The Peace Party), 276; Paul Abbott (Social Democratic Party), 244.