Croydon Central election results: Tory Gavin Barwell clings on to seat by 165 votes

 
Tory winner Gavin Barwell at the count this morning (Picture: Micha Theiner)
Russell Lynch8 May 2015
WEST END FINAL

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Conservative Gavin Barwell survived a nail-biting battle to hang on to the key battleground of Croydon Central by just 165 votes in the early hours of this morning.

Mr Barwell, a former Central Office staffer, overcame Sarah Jones to win the constituency - 47th on Labour’s target list - after a fierce fight which saw hundreds of activists on both sides flood the seat.

The seat needed a partial recount but Jones just failed to gain the 2.9% swing needed to claim the marginal, leaving Mr Barwell with a wafer-thin majority in one of the closest results of the night. The Liberal Democrats lost their deposit in a disastrous night for the party nationally.

An "elated" Mr Barwell faced a struggle to retain the seat after the Conservatives lost control of the council last year. He said "It's been an incredibly tough campaign. Everybody wrote us off a year ago - pollsters, pundits, bookies. But we've worked incredibly hard and we've turned it around - only just."

Barwell, who has campaigned on housing as well as spearheading a campaign to move Croydon from travel card zone 5 to zone 4, said he would do his best to unite a divided seat. He added: "There is a real job for the Conservatives to do. We have to carry on showing people that the Conservative Party is a party for everybody. it's not just for white people or privileged people, it's for everybody who shares their values."

The seat - wedged to the east of solid Labour Croydon North and true-blue Croydon South - turned red in 1997, but was won back by the Tories in 2005.

Its importance was underlined during the campaign as David Cameron said it would be “very difficult” to form a government without winning the constituency.

Alongside Cameron, Boris Johnson and George Osborne have all campaigned for Mr Barwell, while Jones has been backed by senior Labour figures including Ed Balls, Chuka Umunna and Yvette Cooper.Mr Barwell benefitted from Ukip switchers, the collapse of the Lib Dem vote as well as the absence from the ballot paper of former Tory MP Andrew Pelling, who took more than 3,000 votes in 2010 when he stood as an independent.

Labour's Jones said: "We've given it our all but it wasn't quite enough to get over the line this time."

Mr Barwell has built a reputation as a strong local MP since winning in 2010. But his seat was blighted by the riots in 2011, when the dramatic images of the House of Reeves furniture store burning to the ground became an emblem of the violence which swept across the country.

He helped win £25 million from the Government to help rebuilding work and attract investment in the wake of the violence. Developers Hammerson and Westfield have since committed to a new £1 billion shopping centre in the town centre.

Croydon North was held for Labour by Steve Reed who increased his majority to 21364 - a rise of nearly 5,000 - at the expense of the Lib Dems. Croydon South was held by the Blues as Chris Philp increased the Conservatives' majority to more than 17,000.

First place – Gavin Barwell (Con) 22753

Second – Sarah Jones (Lab) 22588

Third – Peter Staveley (UKIP)4810

Fourth – Esther Sutton (Green) 1454

Fifth – James Fearnley (LD) 1152

Majority – 165

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