Tories break Labour hearts by holding on to Crawley

The Conservatives have broken Labour hearts by holding on to Crawley.
Henry Smith at the Election count at K2 Crawley, West Sussex (Pic by Jon Rigby)Henry Smith at the Election count at K2 Crawley, West Sussex (Pic by Jon Rigby)
Henry Smith at the Election count at K2 Crawley, West Sussex (Pic by Jon Rigby)

Henry Smith was elected for the second time, earning over 1,500 more votes than in 2010 and increasing his majority over Labour’s Chris Oxlade by almost 600.

The size of the win was a surprise to many as Crawley was one of the seats Labour had hoped to reclaim.

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There were cheers as the result was announced and Henry was quick to praise Chris as “a worthy opponent”.

UKIP took third place, Chris Brown receiving 6,979 votes - a massive increase on the party’s 2010 performance which saw them scrape into fifth place with 1,382 votes.

Sarah Osborne (Lib Dem) and Guy Hudson (Green Party) received 1,339 and 1,100 votes respectively.

Hoping for a Conservative majority rather than another Coalition, Henry spoke of the frustration he had felt at being “held back” by the Liberal Democrats over the past five years.

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He placed education high on his list of priorities for Crawley and said: “One thing I would want to take back to the House of Commons and campaign on is better funding for Crawley schools.

“The funding in the last Parliament was ring-fenced but I am concerned that Crawley schools are among the lowest funded in the country and that’s really an area I want to start working on the moment I get back to the House of Commons.”