Sir Hugo Swire re-elected as MP for East Devon

Conservative Sir Hugo Swire has been re-elected as the MP for East Devon with a majority of just over 8,000 votes. He won the poll with 29,306 votes.

This is Sir Hugo’s fifth Parliamentary victory – he first became MP in June 2001, and was subsequently re-elected in May 2005, May 2010 and May 2015.

The parliamentary election results for East Devon were declared at just before 4am today (Friday 9 June) by the Returning Officer for Devon Mrs Heleen Lindsay-Fynn who is also High Sheriff of Devon. The count was held at East Devon District Council’s offices at Knowle in Sidmouth.

Seven candidates contested the East Devon seat. The results were:

• Alison M Eden, Liberal Democrats: 1,468
• Peter H Faithfull, Independent: 150
• Brigitte Graham, UK Independence Party (UKIP): 1,203
• Jan Ross, Labour Party: 6,857
• Hugo Swire, The Conservative Party Candidate: 29,306 (Elected)
• Michael D Val Davies, Independent: 128
• Claire L Wright, Independent: 21,270

The turnout was 73.4%, a slight increase on the turnout for the last General Election in 2015. There were 61 rejected ballot papers and 60,443 ballot papers issued.

After the declaration, Mrs Lindsay-Fynn said: “It was a privilege for me to be invited to be Returning Officer. What impressed me most on my very first visit to an election count, was the commitment and efficiency of the team involved in all aspects of the count. The age range was from young to old, and they hardly ever left their seats but they were determined on getting the job done. Congratulations East Devon.”