Heidi Allen swept to election victory early this morning to become the constituency's first woman MP, polling more than 50 per cent of the votes.
"As we watched the votes being counted, I had to hold back tears of joy and gratitude as the sheer number of ballot papers with a cross for me grew and grew. I doubt if anything will be quite as amazing for me ever again," she said.
The results were:
- Heidi Allen (Conservative) – 31,454
Dan Greef (Labour) – 10,860
Sebastian Kindersley (Liberal Democrat) – 9,368
Marion Mason (UKIP) – 6,010
Simon Saggers (Green) – 3,848
Majority – 20,594 (33.46%)
Turnout – 73.25%
While Heidi's victory had been expected – but not by such a large margin – the surprise of the night was Labour taking second place in what was always thought of as a relatively popular area for the Lib-Dems. Please let us know why you think this might be.
"I did hope to do the Association proud and gain the seat Andrew Lansley held for such a long time," she told the Cambridge News.*
"It makes me extremely proud of all the hard work to get here. I worked my socks off – and so has my team," she added.
"To all the voters who let me knock on their doors and help me learn, I want to say 'thank you'.
"It has been an incredible experience and quite humbling to have so many people choose to vote for me.
"We've had so much fun; everybody has wanted to play their part, and I think the Association would agree we feel reborn; we've picked up new volunteers and new members, too."
Not one for wasting time, Heidi began her acceptance speech with:
"This is the day when every person, every business, every organisation and every school gets a new champion.
"Someone – me – whose hands will work hard for them, whose ears will listen, whose voice will negotiate and
shout for them and whose heart will care for them."
Heidi is now setting up her constituency office in the Association's HQ in Hardwick – after 209 very hectic days of campaigning since she was selected as our prospective MP on 11 October last year.
The Conservatives retained all the Cambridgeshire county, Peterborough, Huntingdon and Bedford (and Bedfordshire county) seats. Labour stole Cambridge city from the Lib-Dems; Chamali Fernando (Conservative) was a somewhat distant third.
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Heidi Allen MP
South Cambridgeshire
153 St Neots Road
Hardwick
CB23 7QJ
Phone
01954 212 707
E-mail
heidi.allen.mp@parliament.uk
Twitter
@heidiallen75
Website
www.heidisouthcambs.co.uk