When the election was called just a few weeks ago, no-one would have predicted the national results we have seen overnight.

Now we all know Theresa May's gamble of calling a snap election to get a bigger majority has backfired and we have a hung Parliament.

That's the national picture, but what's happened locally? This is what we have learnt across south-east London and north Kent.

Dartford, a bellwether no more?

Dartford, the countries longest-running bellwether, has stayed conservative but the voting figures do make for interesting reading.

Gareth Johnson kept his set, taking 57.6 per cent of the vote. This is actually up 8.6 per cent from 2015.

Labour came in second, with Bachchu Kaini getting 18,024 votes. He got 33.2 per cent of the vote, again up from 2015 by 7.8 per cent.

The turnout was 69.8 per cent in Dartford.

Lewisham welcomes a new MP, kinda.

Labour’s Ellie Reeves won the Lewisham West and Penge seat with 35,423 votes and increased the majority by more than 10,000 votes.

Ellie Reeves takes over from Jim Dowd, winning 66.6 per cent of the vote. Labour got an increased majority of 16 per cent in Lewisham West and Penge.

In Lewisham West, Vicky Foxcroft also got an increased majority of 16.8 per cent, receiving 42,461 votes.

UKIP voters did not all go to the Conservatives in Eltham

Last year there were only 2,693 votes between the Conservatives and Labour in Eltham in the 2015 general election.

However there were also 6,481 votes for UKIP then too with 15 per cent of the vote. With no UKIP candidate standing in Eltham this year, only half of those votes needed to go to the Tories for them to take the constituency.

 

But that didn’t happen. While the Conservative vote did rise by 4.4 per cent, Clive Efford and Labour jumped up by 11.8 per cent. The UKIP migration to Conservatives didn’t happen.

No surprises in Bromley

Bromley borough stayed blue with all three Conservative candidates returning to their positions.

Jo Johnson increased his share of the votes by 5.5 per cent in Orpington, Bob Neill increased his by 1 per cent, and in Beckenham Bob Stewart increased by majority by 2 per cent.

Labour made gains of about 10 per cent in all the Bromley constituencies.

Gains for the main parties Old Bexley and Sidcup

Councillor Danny Hackett added a solid ten per cent to the Labour party’s vote but came in second with 14,079 votes.

Conservative James Brokenshire kept his seat taking 29,545 votes, and similarly to Dartford he also gained 8.7 per cent of the vote. Mr Brokenshire had 61.5 per cent of votes.

In Old Bexley and Sidcup, 72.8 per cent of the electorate voted, compared to the national turnout of 68.7 per cent.

Conservatives safe in Bexleyheath and Crayford

David Evennett also kept his seat, winning 25,113 votes compared to Labour’s Stef Borella who received 16,040.

Mr Evenett gained 8.3 per cent compared to 2015, and Labour also made a gain of 9.3 per cent. Turnout was 69.2 per cent in Bexleyheath and Crayford.

UKIP came third, losing 16.7 per cent of their votes from 2015.

Greenwich and Woolwich is an even safer Labour seat

Nobody expected Labour’s Matthew Pennycook to be ousted in his constituency of Greenwich and Woolwich. So it wasn’t a surprise when the seat came back Labour.

However their vote share is at a massive 64.4 per cent, increasing by 12.2 per cent since 2015. Not only that, but in an election where most seats saw an increase in both Labour and Conservative vote shares, the Tories vote share in Greenwich and Woolwich actually went down by 1.2 per cent.