Tory MPs endangered species in Kent and Sussex as Labour and Lib Dems make sweeping gains

The Conservatives had a near parliamentary monopoly in Kent and Sussex before this general election.

All bar one seat in Kent was Tory blue, with the Conservatives occupying all Sussex constituencies with the exception of the three in Brighton and Hove.

That starting point makes the repainting of the political map today all the more remarkable.

Labour now has a majority of seats in Kent, winning Ashford and Folkestone & Hythe for the first time.

The three constituencies in the Medway Towns – traditionally swing seats – all went from blue to red, mirroring the national changing of the political weather.

The Liberal Democrats pulled off a major upset in true-blue Tunbridge Wells, winning the town which has been represented by a Conservative for more than a century.

In Sussex, the real story was one of Lib Dem success, delivering on the party’s promise to smash the ‘Blue Wall’ in the South East.

It is now possible to travel the 40 miles from Eastbourne to Horsham without leaving Liberal Democrat constituencies.

As well as those two seats, the party gained Lewes, Mid Sussex and Chichester, where they unseated the former Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.

She had told me at the start of the campaign that she wouldn’t “throw in the towel” – in the end she lost by 12,000 votes.

Labour will be happy with retaining their two seats in Brighton and Hove, while also gaining Hastings & Rye, Crawley, Worthing West and East Worthing & Shoreham.

The Green Party retained their one seat in Sussex – Brighton Pavilion – despite long-serving MP Caroline Lucas stepping down.

Local Labour and Lib Dem sources had been growing quietly confident of their chances of success in our region as the campaign rumbled on.

The eventual result is likely to have exceeded their wildest dreams.

With the number of Tory MPs in Kent now equal to the number of wild bison roaming woodland near Canterbury, it's fair to say they are both endangered species.

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