London Results Election 2017

Their share of the vote was down, reflecting the

Hello, and a very good morning from BBC London. In the next half an

hour, we will bring you the detailed picture of what has happened in and

around the capital. Labour have done around the capital. Labour have done

much better than they expected. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,

described it as an astonishing night in British politics. They took three

seats from the Conservatives, including Croydon Central from Gavin

Barlow, the Tory housing minister. The Tories have lost seats to both

Labour and the Lib Dems. Their only game was Richmond Park, Zac

Goldsmith winning by just 45. A loss for the Lib Dems lie, but the return

of some familiar party faces in south-west London, with Vince Cable

Twickenham and Ed Davey in Surbiton and Kingston. We're waiting for one

more result, in Kensington, due to be counting. Karl Mercer has the

round-up, and as you would expect, there is flash photography in his

report. It was a night to be wearing red in the capital. The smiles on

their faces told the story of a remarkable set of results. Here in

Battersea, Labour took the seat of a former Treasury Minister, Jane

Ellison. Yell at hello! Wets she overturned an 8000 majority, a seat

that voted heavily to remain in the EU. There is a significant challenge

for us to understand how we reconcile the views of London with

regard to Brexit. It is a matter of record that I campaigned last year

very hard for the remain campaign, and Battersea was the highest remain

result of any Tory held seat, so I knew this would be a challenging

election. she wasn't the only minister to go. Gavin Barwell failed

to defend the majority of just 165. As a party, we need to look at these

results and look at why we have not done so well here in London. The

Conservatives lost Enfield to Labour. Labour were pretty happy

about it. People were really angry about Brexit. They wanted something

done about it and they wanted to be represented by someone who wasn't in

favour of Brexit. London results seemed to be suggesting that the

issue of Europe and the concerns about what they have Brexit would

mean are a factor. This reaction in Ealing, not uncommon across the

capital for Labour. Now is a time for calm, cool heads and for people

to sit back and think of where we go from here. A little bit of

celebration here in Ealing North! There is even a chance that Labour

could win the true blue seat of Kensington, already having had two

recounts, a third to take place later. It is nearly 8am and we have

been up all night. We are now told at the end that for some mysterious

reason there is a discrepancy in the numbers. I can't draw any

conclusions. It looks like blinding incompetence. I can't say. Somewhere

along the line, this has got seriously messed up. The Lib Dems

also had success, Vince Cable and Ed Davey winning, winning three seats

overall. There will not be a coalition. The Tories were returned

in Richmond by just 45 boats for Zac Goldsmith. I thank the voters for

putting their trust in me again. I hope they know that I will never let

them down. It is an incalculable honour. It was Labour's night in the

capital. We also know it has been a long

night, and in Kensington, the only constituency in London left to

declare, are told that following several recounts they are too tired

to continue counting. Our political editor, Tim Donovan, is there. A

tiring night all round? You heard the frustration in the voice of the

Labour candidate in the peace there, because Labour are on the barge,

they think of taking a seat which they haven't held since 1974. There

was one recount, and we were told the original margin was around 50

votes in Labour's favour. There was a recount that came down to 38 and

there was a second recount. The people here were not told what that

margin was said to be, but the returning officer here decided, we

think, through a combination of possibly the room where they are

counting being used for something else today, and the fact that

counting staff appeared to be getting tired and there were

discrepancies in the numbers, they have decided to put it off, but they

haven't said exactly when it will resume. It won't be until tomorrow

at the earliest, but you can tell there is a fair amount of

frustration, particularly among the Labour contingent. If it goes

Labour's way, it will cap a very important and good night for them,

but a pretty dreadful one for the Conservatives. And quite clearly, on

this issue Brexit, one person who did survive the tide against the

Conservatives was Theresa Villiers, a Brexit supporter, who hung on in

Chipping Barnet. A majority of several thousand came down to not

much more than 350. I asked if she had any regrets. We obviously need

to reflect on the results overnight and listen to what people have said

to us. I think it will take some time to digest what those results

mean, but of course, it is right to listen to London. But we did have a

referendum on a national basis, and I think to reopen that and replay it

would be very difficult. I continue to believe that we can make a real

success Brexit, both of London and the rest of the country. What does

it mean for Theresa May? I'm sure it's... Her position is very secure

what I think that she is very much best leader. It has been a difficult

night, no doubt about that, but we face I think difficult political

challenges ahead, and she is much the best person to take forward the

Government and Brexit negotiations. So you are staying should -- saying

she should stay? Yes, I believe in Theresa May and I think we are well

led by her, and that it's important that she stays on. No overall

majority. Who knows what lies ahead? Wadded Londoners make up the

prospect of a hung parliament and what people are saying? -- what are

Londoners making of the prospect of a hung parliament? Relieved that the

Tories didn't get in, but that's about it, really. I'm not surprised.

People don't like being taken back to the polls time after time. I'm

really pleased. Much as anything in politics, it will probably have a

huge effect without us having much say. We'll have to figure it out

over the coming days, like Brexit. It is the best of both worlds. We

had a hung parliament back in 2010, so surely the best of two parties

will work better for the country. It is a shame we have got to that state

when we have got such an important issue with Brexit coming along.

People thought the 2015 result was good for Labour. They held 45 seats

out of the 73 in the capital, but let's look back six weeks, seven

weeks ago, people were talking about the possibility of them losing 8-10

seats, these marginals, it was going to be so close. That hasn't

happened, and in seats like Ealing Central and Brentford in Hampstead,

they have really piled on. But the anti-Brexit sentiment has roared

overnight. From Kensington, thank you, Tim. We

can now get reaction from the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, who is

in Westminster for us this morning. Good morning to you. As we heard

there, a good night for Labour in London, and increased majorities in

places. Given the results elsewhere in the country, would you have

expected even more? I was naturally disappointed that we haven't got a

majority Labour Government elected, but for five weeks ago, we were over

20 points behind in the polls, and people were talking about the Labour

Party being wiped out, taking us back to levels of MPs that we had in

the 1930s, so the campaign has been a tremendous success, and as we've

seen in London, extremely successful as a result of the work that's been

done on the ground by our party members and supporters. We have

consolidated our position. The Conservative Party now seems to be

falling apart. The Prime Minister, a number of MPs are saying her

position is untenable. I think the Labour Party now is the only party

that can offer stable Government, so we are offering ourselves as a

minority Government to enable us now to start the Brexit negotiations and

also start to transform and rebuild our society. Why do you think it has

worked particularly well here in London? Is it that anti-Brexit

feeling, or are you just very grateful for the efforts of the

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, that he has played in all of this? Sadiq has

played a great role, and he always has, and he is a great asset. The

issue around Brexit was that Londoners, and I think the rest of

the country, have rejected this concept of a hard Brexit. They have

certainly rejected the threats made by Philip Hammond and Theresa May

about turning us into a tax haven of continental Europe. That has been a

factor, but I also think that, I am a London MP, and on the streets,

what people were talking about were bread-and-butter issues, the fact

that school budgets were being cut, teachers and classroom assistants

were being laid off, talking about the health service, and also talking

about home care and social care. So, all of those issues combined,

Theresa May called this election unnecessarily for party advantage

rather than in the interest of the country. Then she said, it is all

about Brexit, so people said, yes, it is important, but there are so

many other issues they wanted to talk about as well. I think the

Prime Minister has committed a catastrophic error, and I think

people have completely lost confidence, both amongst the general

public and in her own party. Briefly, Labour boss Mike Stephen

Pound has called for calm, cool heads will stop how will you

approach this now was Mike exactly as Steve has said, it is about --

how will you approach this now? Exactly as Steve has said. We will

put forward our budget, based upon the costings of our manifesto, and

in that way, we will offer ourselves to form a Government. Not only will

that have majority support in the country, I also think we will get

majority support in parliament on the individual policies, across

parties. Thank you for your time this morning. Let's turn now to look

at the results just outside of the capital. The Conservatives held on

in the Home Counties, but in some places with much reduced majorities.

Catherine Carpenter has the story. That is the sound of relief. After a

tense night in Thurrock, the Conservatives' Jackie Doyle Price

held on. If things were closed in 2015, they will even tighter this

time, and she knows it. No one expected me to win the first time,

no one certainly expected me to win a second time, and I didn't expect

to win tonight at the time. Much of that uncertainty in Essex was down

to where former Ukip voters would go. From a strong showing to make

years ago, the party lost its deposit in Harlow and battled on and

Billericay this time. Both the Conservatives and Labour seem to

have benefited. While the ring of blue in the counties and around

London seems intact, in places like Watford, majorities were slashed.

Richard Harrington's comfortable win in 2015 has plummeted to a majority

of just over 2000. I am delighted to be elected again tonight. It is a

privilege for me. Labour made gains in Runnymede too. Philip Hammond

still hung on with a comfortable chair of the vote. Jeremy Hunt saw

off a challenge from National Health Action. I think the people of South

West Surrey have rejected that type of campaign, with the way they

voted, and I am very humbled that they did so. To the west of the

capital, two islands of bread in a sea of blue. Labour's Colby in

Slough making history. -- two islands of red. I am the first

member of the Seeker religion is wearing a turban -- Sikh religion to

be elected wearing a turban. I would like to pay tribute to Jeremy

Corbyn. APPLAUSE

He has shown real leadership. His visit lifted and inspired this

campaign and set a new tone for politics in this town. There weren't

many upsets in the constituencies outside the capital, but there were

battles and were nerves. After all, these are strange times. Catherine

Carpenter, BBC London News. With me now, a man who knows pretty

much everything there is to know about modern politics, Professor

Tony Travers from the London School of economics. We have seen a few

elections in our time, what is your reading this one? It is a result

that is surprising by any standards. We don't have the vote share yet,

but the vote share for Labour might be 50%. Labour has gained seats in

the capital against all expectations. I think what we have

seen here is in part a sort of Remainers revenge, there is a bit of

that in the south-east. Beyond that, Labour has caught the public

imagination in only a way that -- in a way that only a few posters were

out and it has led to this remarkable victory in London,

keeping the Tories to a hung parliament across the country. Do

you put that down to anything at the moment - the youth vote, the Corbyn

factor? There is a bigger turnout amongst the young, which will have

helped Labour particularly, because London is a young city. There is

clearly a Brexit overlay in the middle of this, and the Remain vote

in London has clearly come out. The Kensington result in particular is

remarkable. So we have a number of things at play in this election

which have helped Jeremy Corbyn. The other thing is that however Jeremy

Corbyn's starting point was rather back, his campaign and the Labour

many facets -- the Labour manifesto were positive. He was seen as being

authentic, whereas Theresa May started from a strong position but

it all fell away. This is Labour's best result in London since 2001. It

must be. In terms of seats, sure. You mention Brexit, because we did

get some reaction from people in the city this morning. Let's listen. It

is not very good. Do you think it will affect business? Yes, big-time.

Especially in the city and the financial markets. The pound has

already suffered because of this, so it may well have impact in the

market, but there are bigger things to consider than just the markets on

what goes on inside the square mile. It is a mess, clearly. I think

Theresa May is a rather arrogant and stupid person. If she was going to

have this election, she should have had it during Article 50. Do you

think it will affect business? Yes. We wanted a winner and we didn't get

that. A backlash there. We know that the one thing the city and

businesses don't like is uncertainty, and that is what we've

got now. We have, and it is uncertainty at scale. The pound fell

sharply during the night. Looking ahead, we are now in a position

where business has to think about Brexit, Brexit being negotiated by a

Government without a majority. Theresa May herself said she wanted

a big majority to empower herself to be able to negotiate a good deal.

Now, the exact opposite has happened. We have a Government

without the majority depending on the Democratic Unionists to do this

negotiation. It is a real mess and weakens the Government position. It

means an extended period of uncertainty. Some people think,

well, we'll get a softer Brexit deal, and that is possible, but the

negotiation itself is going to be a nightmare now for the Conservatives

leader, assuming it's Theresa May, or whoever has to handle it. The

chances are that there is going to be another general election sooner

rather than later. The Tories have been quiet this morning. No news of

Morris. No news Boris! That is the other thing, there is undoubtedly

going to be a question over whether there would-be Tory leadership race

within the next year or so. It would be surprising if Boris Johnson,

being an ambitious politician, didn't think it was worth another

crack at top post. I think Catherine said it in her package - strange

times. Strange times! Thank you. We may be looking at a

hung parliament, but the Lib Dems, with three seats in London, ruled

out a coalition with Labour or the Tories. How are they feeling,

especially with the return of two big names? Here's Mark Ashdown.

All smiles for the next generation of Lib Dems. In London, they feel

like the party is back on track. In the 2015 wipe-out, it was last man

standing, with a slim majority, 7000 Ukip votes up for grabs, and a

Brexit area at odds with his views, he said it: It is a great victory

for the Lib Dems, against all odds! Somehow, again, the great survivor

made the figures add up. We fought a very strong campaign on the issues I

think people here are worried about, and it is the future of our

hospitals, St Helier Hospital, of our schools, some of which are

suffering severe funding cuts. For big hitters, what a difference to

two years ago. You've worked that out, have you? It is a bad night. Ed

Davey, all hugs and smiles, as his supporters raised a glass of two at

a local sailing club. Last time, you lost - big turnaround? A huge

turnaround. Politics is very fluid in Britain at the moment. We have an

unsure result in this election, and we've got some of the most

significant negotiations this country's ever had with Brexit, and

I want to make a contribution to those to try to make sure we get the

best deal for Britain. Vince Cable, too, back in his Twickenham seat

with a thumping majority of 9000. But with key targets slipping away,

and Zac Goldsmith taking Richmond Park, there was only a one seat

swing. The Lib Dems have said there will be no new coalition with

anyone. After the last election, it felt like the Lib Dems needed a life

raft for their solitary MP here. Now, the mood is calm, positive, and

they are going to need a slightly bigger boat.

Professor Tony Travis is still with me. We will look ahead to the day in

a moment, but just reflecting on the results here in London, the biggest

surprise or shop for you? The fact we are waiting for a Kensington

recount, and it may go one till tomorrow. Kensington was a safe

Conservative seat, which tells you something. It is now absolutely on

the margin. We have seen elsewhere the ramping up of loads of Labour

MPs. In East Ham, nearly 50,000 votes for the Labour MP. Huge

majorities in London. Some Labour seats that were marginal are now

safe, and many Tory seats are now marginal. How much of that is due to

the Ukip factor in the fact that they did not stand candidates in a

lot of London seats? The Ukip votes seems to have split much more evenly

between Labour and the Conservatives than was once thought. There weren't

that many Ukip voters in some parts of the city, the East, for instance,

and parts of Hillingdon and Saturn. Across the city as a whole, what is

really remarkable is that -- Sutton. What is really remarkable is that

Labour is now this place with a huge labour vote. It is like New York for

Hillary Clinton. Just a few tips of blue on the edge, and that is an

amazing change. Looking ahead to today, what will happen? How long do

you think before we get a clearer picture of what is going to happen

and what the Government will look like? It will be interesting to see

if within central London Theresa May appears outside Downing Street. It

has been very quiet. At some point, Theresa May will have to say

something about her intention. She has to do a deal with the Democratic

Unionists, I assume, and at that point, we will get a sense of the

way this is all going for the future of the country and for London. If

you look at today, there is going to be the beginning of a process that

will take days and days for the Government to sort out. There has to

be a queen's speech, and Labour is sounding as if it wants to try and

form a Government instead. Lots to think about and to happen today.

Thank you, Tony. That is all from us for now. More on the results and

she will stay. Viewers are joining us from around the UK.

We better say goodbye, Gus, thanks very much. The former Cabinet

Secretary is leaving us. If you are just joined us at the BBC election

centre, if for some reason you missed this morning's necessary or

have been heavily asleep overnight. Let me tell you Theresa May is still

Prime Minister this morning but doesn't have a majority in this new

parliament. It is to be a hung parliament. The prospect at the

moment seems to be that MrsMay will stay in power with the help of the

DUP, that's not confirmed by the way, that's just the way that the

figures are stacking up. It's been a remarkable night for