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The ins and outs of Election 20102

Governance | Tania Mason | 7 May 2010

Charities minister Angela Smith (pictured) lost her seat in yesterday’s election after Labour’s share of the vote in her Basildon constituency fell by nearly 10 per cent, giving Conservative candidate Stephen Metcalfe the victory with 43.9 per cent.

However, the charities spokespeople for the two other main parties both kept their seats. The Conservatives added 2.8 per cent to bring Nick Hurd’s share of the vote in Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner to 57.5 per cent. And the Lib Dems’ Jenny Willott hung on to her Cardiff Central seat with 41.4 per cent of the votes, despite a dip in support of 8.4 per cent.

Former charities minister Phil Hope failed to retain his seat, as support for Labour fell by 4.5 per cent to give his Tory rival Louise Bagshawe victory with 42.2 per cent.

But a number of other hopefuls with current or previous connections to the sector managed to secure seats in the new parliament.

New MPS for Labour

Former Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Kate Green has become the Labour MP for Stretford & Urmston with 48.6 per cent of votes, despite support for the party slipping by 2.8 per cent, and Cathy Jamieson, who used to be chief executive of children’s charity Who Cares? Scotland,
and was already a Labour Co-operative MSP, hung onto the Westminster seat in Kilmarnock and Loudoun for Labour.

Labour’s Walthamstow candidate Stella Creasy, the campaigns chief at the Scout Association who led the sector’s lobbying against higher water charges, managed to boost the Labour vote by 1.5 per cent to win with a resounding 51.8 per cent support.

Rushanara Ali, an associate director of the Young Foundation, won for Labour in Bethnal Green and Bow, the seat vacated by George Galloway, with 42.9 per cent of the vote.  Galloway stood in nearby Poplar and Limehouse but his Respect-Unity Coalition came third.

Labour hopefuls Bridget Phillipson, a former women’s refuge manager standing in Houghton & Sunderland South, and Lisa Nandy, once a policy adviser for the Children's Society who stood in Wigan, both secured seats in the new parliament.

New Conservative MPs

Harriett Baldwin, who is currently vice-chair of the board of the Social Investment Business and chair of its investment committee, took the West Worcestershire seat for the Tories with 50.4 per cent of the vote, a rise of 5.4 per cent on the 2005 result.

Conservative candidate for Bristol North West, Charlotte Leslie, who used to be a public affairs officer at the National Autistic Society, has won the seat following a 5.5 per cent boost for the local Tory vote.

Other parties

Former Oxfam Scotland campaigns manager Eilidh Whiteford, who is also a trustee of Turning Point Scotland, has become the Scottish National Party MP in Banff & Buchan despite local support for the party diving by 9.9 per cent to 41.3 per cent.

And Jonathan Edwards, who took an unpaid sabbatical from his job as public affairs officer at Citizens Advice Cymru to stand for Plaid Cymru in Carmarthen East & Dinefwr, won the seat with 35.6 per cent of the vote, despite a 4.2 per cent swing from Laid Cymru to Labour in the constituency.

None of the new Lib Dem MPs have worked in the sector but Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood, former director of fundraising at the Alzheimer’s Society and a fundraiser with Oxfam in India and Oxford, was returned with an increased majority.

Unsuccessful candidates

As aforementioned, former charities minister Angela Smith lost her Basildon seat after Labour’s share of the vote there fell by nearly 10 per cent. Former charities minister Phil Hope failed to retain his seat, as support for Labour fell by 4.5 per cent to give his Tory rival Louise Bagshawe victory in Corby.

ChildLine founder and independent candidate Esther Rantzen lost her deposit in Luton and Shaun Bailey, chief executive of youth charity My Generation, who was described in The Independent as “black, street and fanatically new Tory”, lost the closely-contested Hammersmith seat.

And, while the new Cabinet is depressingly white, English, male and middle-aged, there is more diversity in the House – the number of black and Asian MPs increased from 14 to 27 and there is a record number of women – 139 compared with 126 in the last Parliament.

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