Well there is no disguising how disappointing last nights results were for us. Nationally we improved our vote share by 4.5% but ended up with less MP’s than previously, and of course we lost our leader Jo Swinson. Something clearly went wrong with our messaging as we started the campaign on a high and went very significantly backwards. There will be a full inquest into that in due course, but now is not the time for that.

Here in Newark we exceeded our national performance (just) by doubling our vote share from 5% to 10%. This gives us a platform to build on in the future. Congratulations to Robert Jenrick who retained the seat. Interestingly whilst many areas of the country saw a huge swing to the Tories that didn’t happen here, with his vote up just 0.6%. The big losers were of course the Labour Party who will be holding their own inquest, but it is clear that the country has rejected their current version of extreme left wing socialism.

We now know of course that Brexit will happen. I think that is highly regrettable but now inevitable. My colleagues and I will campaign for the best possible Brexit deal, and I’m happy to say that I will be campaigning to rejoin as soon as we leave. I firmly believe that we are better off together. In the meantime we will continue to work for and support local people. That is what Liberal Democrats do.

Happy Christmas to you all.
Best wishes
David

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