Chesham and Amersham by-election result: Lib Dems win seat in blow to Tories
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken of his disappointment after his party lost a seat to the Lib Dems in the Chesham and Amersham byelection.
Johnson described the results as “disappointing”, adding: “We are getting on with delivering our agenda for the whole country.”
The Liberal Democrats staged an upset in the London commuter belt by winning the Chesham and Amersham byelection from the Conservatives overnight.
It’s a historic win for the Lib Dems, who overturned a Tory majority of more than 16,000 votes.
The Tories had held the seat since it was created in 1974 but last night the Lib Dem candidate Sarah Green won the race with with 21,517 votes, compared to Conservative Party candidate Peter Fleet’s 13,489 – a majority of 8,028 votes.
Turnout was 52 per cent, compared to 76 per cent in 2019’s General Election.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said the blow to the Tories, in a London commuter belt seat, would send “a shockwave through British politics”.
Signs of a potential upset were clear when the Lib Dems last week shared internal polling with City A.M. showing the gap between Green and Fleet had narrowed to just a few points.
Davey, who had visited the constituency 14 times during the campaign, earlier told City A.M. that the party had focused its campaign around opposition to the government’s planning reforms.
The planning reforms, which are opposed by a swathe of Conservative backbenchers, would make it easier for houses to be built in “growth zones”.