Bexhill and Battle Labour Party hail '˜major breakthrough'

In 2015, the party secured 7,797 votes, putting them in third place behind the Conservatives and UKIP.

But on Thursday (June 8), candidate Christine Bayliss managed to win 14,689 votes, increasing Labour’s share of the vote from 14 per cent to 25 per cent, much to the delight of the party.

Ms Bayliss said: “We saw a surge in support in the final three weeks of the campaign with the publication of our manifesto with the alternative offer to invest in our public services and grow our economy.

“People were turned off by the Conservative’s negative campaign around Jeremy Corbyn – for every person who told me they couldn’t vote for me because of Corbyn there were two who said they would because of his integrity and honesty.

“We’ve also seen literally dozens of new members join the Labour Party in Bexhill and Battle since the election was announced and seen many new faces who have come out to campaign with us for the first time.”

The local Labour Party chairman Conor Hill said: “The outcome has been a disaster for the Conservatives who now have to get into bed with the socially conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to get their manifesto programme through parliament.

“We will be watching very carefully what happens and holding our newly elected MP Huw Merriman to account.

“Any backsliding on climate change, equality and women’s issues will be called out straight away”.

Ms Bayliss added: “I’d like to thank all the people who voted for me on June 8.

“Although we didn’t win here, we are determined to stand up for people here in Bexhill and Battle.

“Look out for our summer campaigns around better governance for Bexhill, making sure our schools are funded properly as well as fighting Tory plans to cut £35m from the Sussex Police budget when we’ve never needed bobbies on the beat more.”