Summary
The Labour Party has won the general election, winning a total of 412 seats (+211) with 33.7% of the vote – the smallest vote share of a winning party in decades. The Conservatives suffered their worst election performance in the party’s 200-year history, winning a total of 121 seats (-251) and 23.7% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats regained their position as the third largest party in Parliament, winning a total of 72 seats (+64) with 12.2% of the vote – the best performance of a third party since 1923. Reform UK experienced a significant upswing in support, winning a total of 5 seats with 14.3% of the vote, whilst the Green Party of England and Wales won 4 seats with 6.7% of the vote.
Keir Starmer becomes the first Labour leader since Tony Blair to win a general election and will unveil his government’s legislative agenda in the King Speech’s on 17 July.
What happened in the South and South East?
The results in the South and South East largely reflected the wider national picture for the Conservatives with the party struggling to hold on to seats in battles against both Labour and the Lib Dems.
Across Oxfordshire, Surrey, and Sussex the Lib Dems unseated the Conservatives in seats like Guildford, Henley and Thame, Lewes, Surrey Heath, Woking, and Wokingham. Equally, Labour made gains at the Conservatives’ expense in Banbury, East Worthing and Shoreham, and Hastings and Rye.
There were, however, some Tory seats which remained resilient even in the face of the dissolution of their own support and the success of Labour and the Lib Dems in neighbouring constituencies. In areas like East Hampshire, Gosport, and North West Hampshire the Conservatives were able to hold on, despite a reduced vote share ranging between 22% and 26% in each of the three seats. Indeed, in nearby Havant, Conservative incumbent Alan Mak held on by a paper-thin 92 votes, reinforcing the old adage that every vote does in fact count.
In the East of England the Labour party continued to make inroads into Conservative constituencies, with seats like North East Hertfordshire, North West Cambridgeshire, and Peterborough all returning members for Keir Starmer’s Parliamentary Labour Party.
However, whilst the early hours of the 5th of July had been littered with a number of Cabinet Ministers (8) losing their seats across the country, including the Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, perhaps one of the more shocking results occurred in South West Norfolk, where Labour’s Terry Jermy beat former Prime Minister Liz Truss by 630 votes.
Whilst the exact composition and intent of a new Starmer-led government will become clear over the coming days and weeks, what is abundantly clear is that the political composition of the South, South East and East of England has undergone a transformational change overnight with many constituencies previously being seen as ‘safe’ Conservative now being represented by a political party of a different colour.
APPENDIX – South East & East Cluster Results
South East (Oxfordshire, Sussex, Surrey)
| Seat | New MP | Predecessor | Majority | % change in vote share from 2019 |
| Banbury | Sean Woodcock (LAB) | Victoria Prentis / Robert Courts (CONs) | 3,256 | +13.5% |
| Bicester and Woodstock | Calum Miller (LD) | Robert Courts / Victoria Prentis / John Howell (CONs) / Layla Moran (LD) | 4,958 | +12.1% |
| Brighton Pavilion | Siân Berry (Green) | Caroline Lucas (Green) | 14,290 | -2.0% |
| Didcot and Wantage | Olly Glover (LD) | David Johnston / John Howell (CONs) | 6,233 | +8.5% |
| Eastbourne | Josh Babarinde (LD) | Caroline Ansell (CON) | 12,204 | +9.2% |
| East Worthing and Shoreham | Tom Rutland (LAB) | Tim Loughton (CON) | 9,519 | +8.1% |
| Esher and Walton | Monica Harding (LD) | Dominic Raab / Ben Spencer (CONs) | 12,003 | +8.4% |
| Guildford | Zöe Franklin (LD) | Angela Richardson / Paul Beresford (CONs) | 8,429 | +8.3% |
| Hastings and Rye | Helena Dollimore (LAB) | Sally-Ann Hart / Huw Merriman (CONs) | 8,683 | -0.8% |
| Henley and Thame | Freddie van Mierlo (LD) | John Howell (CON) | 6,267 | +12.6% |
| Lewes | James MacCleary (LD) | Maria Caulfield / Nus Ghani / Caroline Ansell / Huw Merriman (CONs) | 12,624 | +9.5% |
| Surrey Heath | Al Pinkerton (LD) | Michael Gove / Jonathan Lord (CONs) | 5,640 | +16.8% |
| Woking | Will Forster (LD) | Jonathan Lord (CON) | 11,246 | +18.8% |
| Wokingham | Clive Jones (LD) | John Redwood / James Sunderland / Theresa May (CONs) | 8,345 | +15.4% |
| Worthing West | Beccy Cooper (LAB) | Peter Bottomley / Andrew Griffith (CONs) | 3,949 | +10.7% |
South East (Hampshire and Berkshire)
| Seat | New MP | Predecessor | Majority | % change in vote share from 2019 |
| East Hampshire | Damian Hinds (CON) | Damian Hinds / George Hollingbery (CONs) | 1,275 | -22.1% |
| Eastleigh | Liz Jarvis (LD) | Paul Homes (CON) | 1,546 | 0% |
| Gosport | Caroline Dinenage (CON) | Caroline Dinenage (CON) | 6,054 | -26.2% |
| Havant | Alan Mak (CON) | Alan Mak (CON) | 92 | -34.6% |
| North East Hampshire | Alex Brewer (LD) | Ranil Jayawardena / Maria Miller (CONs) | 634 | +15.7% |
| North West Hampshire | Kit Malthouse (CON) | Kit Malthouse / Maria Miller (CONs) | 3,288 | -25.1% |
| Portsmouth North | Amanda Martin (LAB) | Penny Mordaunt (CON) | 780 | +7.8% |
| Portsmouth South | Stephen Morgan (LAB) | Stephen Morgan (LAB) | 13,155 | -0.2% |
| Reading Central | Matt Rodda (LAB) | Alok Sharma (CON) / Matt Rodda (LAB) | 12,637 | -4.9% |
| Reading West and Mid Berkshire | Olivia Bailey (LAB) | Alok Sharma / Laura Farris / John Redwood (CONs) | 1,361 | +12.1% |
| Southampton Itchen | Darren Paffey (LAB) | Royston Smith (CON) | 6,105 | +0.5% |
| Southampton Test | Satvir Kaur (LAB) | Alan Whitehead (LAB) | 9,333 | -5.0% |
| Winchester | Danny Chambers (LD) | Steve Brine / Flick Drummond (CONs) | 13,821 | +12.6% |
East of England
| Seat | New MP | Predecessor | Majority | % change in vote share from 2019 |
| Ely and East Cambridgeshire | Charlotte Cane (LD) | Lucy Frazer / Anthony Brown / Steve Barclay (CONs) | 495 | +3.4% |
| Hitchin | Alistair Strathern (LAB) | Bim Afolami / Richard Fuller (CONs) / Alistair Strathern (LAB) | 7,109 | +16.6% |
| Huntingdon | Ben Obese-Jecty (CON) | Jonathan Djanogly / Shailesh Vara (CONs) | 1,499 | -24.1% |
| Mid Norfolk | George Freeman (CON) | George Freeman / Liz Truss (CONs) | 3,054 | -27.9% |
| North East Cambridgeshire | Steve Barclay (CON) | Steve Barclay (CON) | 7,189 | -32.4% |
| North East Hertfordshire | Chris Hinchliff (LAB) | Oliver Heald (CON) | 1,923 | +11.3% |
| North West Cambridgeshire | Sam Carling (LAB) | Shailesh Vara / Paul Bristow (CONs) | 39 | +9.6% |
| Peterborough | Andrew Pakes (LAB) | Paul Bristow (CON) | 118 | -9.5% |
| South Cambridgeshire | Pippa Heylings (LD) | Anthony Browne / Lucy Frazer (CONs) / Daniel Zeichner (LAB) | 10,641 | +5.8% |
| South West Norfolk | Terry Jermy (LAB) | Liz Truss / George Freeman (CONs) | 630 | +8.4% |
| St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire | Ian Sollom (LD) | Anthony Browne / Jonathan Djanogly / Lucy Frazer (CONs) | 4,621 | +10.1% |
| Welwyn Hatfield | Andrew Lewin (LAB) | Grant Shapps (CON) | 3,799 | +9.3% |
Boundary changes: Please note, following the Boundary Commission review, the 2024 General Election was contested on new parliamentary boundaries, the first such change since 2010. In the South East, the number of seats has increased from 84 to 91, and in the East of England the number of seats has increased from 58 to 61 necessitating a significant redrawing of co