The middle of the line

Apparently the counting was suspended at 4:30am to restart with refreshed counters at midday. We might announce later than Northern Ireland.

The rumours are that after the first counts, Laura was slightly ahead. Whatever the final result, it seems that Crawley has seen a massive swing to the Tories, given that the national average is around 3% and London was about 5%. To win, Henry would need more than 8.5%!

Until the final figures are available, we won’t have a clue whether this is a result of votes going to the Tories, the Lib Dems or just not being cast. But I think this is going to provoke a lot of thought in the Party. If the results are that bad, it probably means a few losses in the concurrent County Council election.

We do have a Labour government though, which is the main thing.