Hove and Portslade elects city’s first openly gay MP

Following a night of shocks up and down the country, the Conservative Party look set to form a majority government as the pre-election opinion polls got the outcome of the election all wrong.

The count took place at the Brighton Centre

MANY senior politicians and household names lost their seats including former Lib Dem Leader Charles Kennedy, Leader of Labour in Scotland Jim Murphy, Lib Dem Business Secretary, Vince Cable, George Galloway from Respect, Conservative Minister, Ester McVey, Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Secretary Danny Alexander and maybe the biggest scalp of the night, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls.

Nigel Farage MEP failed in his bid to take Thanet South and has since stood down as leader of UKIP recommending that UKIP’S deputy leader Suzanne Evans stands in as temporary leader until the UKIP leadership election later in the year when “he will consider” if he puts his name forward in any new leadership contest. UKIP took 12.6% of the national vote but got only one seat.

Biggest losers on the night were the Liberal Democrats whose share of the national vote was decimated falling by 15.2% with many Lib Dem voters transferring their allegiances to the Conservative Party rather than Labour.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg managed to hold onto his Sheffield Hallam seat but has since resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats following their poor showing.

The Scottish National Party were the biggest winners taking 56 seats on a 4.8% share of the national vote.

Locally, the country’s first Green Candidate, Caroline Lucas retained her Brighton Pavilion seat increasing her majority from 1,252 to nearly 8,000.

Simon Kirby the popular Conservative candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven held the seat for the Conservatives with a majority of just 690 over Labour’s Nancy Platts while Peter Kyle bucked the national trend, taking Hove and Portslade for Labour and becoming the city’s first openly gay MP to be elected with a majority of 1,236 over former Hove Police Chief, Cllr Graham Cox.

Stonewall CEO Ruth Hunt, said: “We’re encouraged that people took to the polls and voted. More than 25 openly lesbian, gay or bisexual MPs have been elected, making this the largest group of openly LGB MPs elected to date. Our Parliament is richer and stronger for the diversity of voices and experiences within it, however, it is certainly disappointing not to see any openly trans people represented amongst our MPs. Looking ahead, our MPs cannot forget the manifesto commitments they made to the LGBT community. We must see those words translated into tangible actions. The Conservatives, alongside the Liberal Democrats, have had an impressive track record at Westminster over the last five years, and we look forward to working closely with the new government towards achieving equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people, here and abroad.”