The General Election certainly taught us all a few lessons nationally.
Here's what we learnt in Epsom and Ewell (and in its neighbouring constituencies).
Surrey was, is, (and probably always will be) blue…
The county of Surrey is considered Tory heartland, and with good reason – 61 of its 81 county councillors are Conservative, as are all 11 of its MPs.
Labour candidates may have achieved respectable increases throughout the county, but Tory heavyweights – Chris Grayling, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, to name a few – were all returned with comfortable majorities.
The last non-Tory MP in the county was Lib Dem Sue Doughty, who represented Guildford between 2001 and 2005. Since she was dethroned by current incumbent Anne Milton, Surrey has been blue, blue and blue all over.
…But Labour also made big gains
Train driver and former borough councillor in Hounslow Ed Mayne performed respectably against Chris Grayling in Epsom and Ewell, receiving 14,838 votes – a full quarter of the vote.
This increased the party’s vote share by 9.5 per cent and at the same time saw Labour record its best ever vote in Epsom and Ewell.
The party also made big gains in Reigate, with 13,282 (24.7 per cent) ballots cast Toby Brampton. This saw Labour’s stock rise 11.9 per in the renamed constituency – previously Reigate and Banstead.
Labour also increased its share by 10.4 per cent in Runnymede and Weybridge, by 9.8 per cent in Surrey Heath, and by 7.7 per cent in Woking.
Crispin Blunt thinks, nationally, the electorate got it wrong
The chairman of the foreign affairs select committee was comfortably returned in Reigate, but was not best pleased about seeing some of his Conservative colleagues losing their seats. He told the BBC: “The electorate, plainly, have got it wrong”.
Well there you go this Tory MP says all this chaos is our fault, the electorate. Nothing to do with May or his party pic.twitter.com/PzTfxtXyD4
— Devutopia (@D_Raval) 10 June 2017
He was mocked on Twitter, with one observer sharing a still from a classic episode of The Simpsons.
Conservative MP Crispin Blunt there, reading the situation pic.twitter.com/PWosRfZUrU
— JOE.co.uk (@JOE_co_uk) 9 June 2017
In ‘The Boy Who Knew Too Much’ from Season Five, Principal Seymour Skinner fruitlessly searches for Bart Simpson in an abandoned 4-H club as the spiky-haired ten-year-old skives off school. “Am I so out of touch?”, Skinner muses. “No,” he concludes. “It’s the children who are wrong.”
Conservative cabinet members on Surrey County Council felt 'vindicated' by Labour's growth
Members of Surrey County Council’s Conservative cabinet seemed to celebrate Labour’s performance in the election – viewed by some commentators as a rejection of austerity.
Quite right. Enough with the austerity for now. Protect public services like social care.
— Helyn Clack (@HelynClack) 9 June 2017
Member for education Mary Lewis tweeted: “Feel vindicated for Surrey Conservatives telling Conservative government and party public service squeeze gone too far. Should have heeded our noise in Jan/Feb.”
Her colleague, Helyn Clack, member for wellbeing and health, replied: “Quite right. Enough with the austerity for now. Protect public services like social care.”
The Tory-dominated council has lost £170million in government grants since 2010, forcing it to earmark frontline services for tens of millions of pounds worth of cuts.
Struggling for funds, the Conservative cabinet proposed a referendum on increasing council tax by 15 per cent, before performing a dramatic U-turn over the suggestion in February.
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