Peter Hoskin

Norwich North: full results

So the results are finally in from Norwich North.  Here they are:

1st: Conservatives — 13,591 votes
2nd: Labour — 6,243 votes
3rd: Lib Dems — 4,809 votes
4th: UKIP — 4,068 votes
5th: Greens — 3,350 votes

Majority: 7,348
Swing: 16.49 percent

Labour are going to try and spin the sub-40 percent result as a disappointment for the Tories, and their own position in second as some sort of triumph for a governing party operating in “difficult times”.  But, expectations management aside, the scale of the Tory majority far, far outstrips the predictions made by almost every Tory I’ve spoken to – as well those made by most other observers – and the swing is over double the level they’ll need to triumph in the general election.  Sure, it took six visits by David Cameron, among other targeted efforts – luxuries the Tories won’t be able to afford when they’re contesting hundreds of seats at once.  But the bottom the line is: Brown Central will find it extremely difficult to push this as anything other than good for the Tories and absolutely terrible for Labour.  

As for the Lib Dems and the Greens, who might have expected to do relatively well today: the less said, the better.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in