Folkestone and Hythe Election Result

Conservative Damian Collins has been elected as the next Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe.

In an impressive result, Mr Collins polled 26,109 votes, which is 49.4% of the total cast.  This is slightly lower than the Conservative vote of 2005, which was 26,161 votes which was a share of 53.9% of the vote.

The Conservative share of the vote compared to the 2005 election dropped by 4.4%, but the predicted drop of around 9,000 votes predicted by senior local Conservatives in last week’s Herald failed to materialise.

The Conservative majority from 2005 of 11,680 votes fell slightly to 10,122.

His main rival, Liberal Democrat Lynne Beaumont polled 15,987 votes, which is 30.3% of the total vote. This is a slight improvement on 2005 figures, which saw the Liberal Democrat candidate poll 14,481 votes, a 29.9% share.

Labour candidate Donald Worsley saw a fall in the Labour vote from 12.5% in 2005 to 10.8%.

Other candidates failed to break the 5% share needed for the return of their deposit. UKIP’s Frank McKenna got 2,439 votes, a 4.6% share. BNP candidate Harry Williams received 1,662 votes, a share of 3.2% . Penny Kemp of the Green Party and Independent candidate David Plumstead both polled less than 1000 votes.

The numbers of votes cast and share of the vote between the three main parties is almost identical to the 2005 election.

Mr Collins was the clear favourite for the seat. Countywide the Conservatives enjoyed a night of great success.