General Election 2019: The Sheffield Roundup
- Sheffield now has a Conservative MP. Miriam Joy Cates was elected for the Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency, beating the Labour candidate by over 7000 votes. She’s promised to prioritise strengthening public transport links and bringing high-grade jobs to the area.
- The Liberal Democrats had a torrid night. The party had been hoping to reclaim Sheffield Hallam- the seat held by Nick Clegg until 2017. Yet after a lengthy recount, the constituency was declared for Labour at 5:10am on Friday. The result was just one of many dismal showings for them throughout the night where leader, Jo Swinson lost out to the SNP and the Lib Dem total in parliament was slashed to just eight seats.
- The Labour message simply didn’t cut through. They might have claimed victory in five out of the six Sheffield constituencies, but the mood amongst party members at the count was undeniably somber. In many cases, majorities were reduced by thousands and activists from across the Labour spectrum were united in the view that both Corbyn’s leadership and the failure to resolve Brexit had acted as blocks to the party’s strategy on the doorstep.
- There’s a growing divide between the metropolis and the periphery of the region. In Sheffield Central, Labour’s Paul Blomfield actually increased his majority (albeit by five votes). Yet the further afield we look, the weaker support for the party seems to be. In Brightside and Hillsborough, Gill Furniss’s majority was reduced by around 6,000 whilst out in Don Valley and Wakefield, the Tories picked up seats.
- Turnout was patchy. The national average was 67.3%; down slightly from 2017 but this is unsurprising given the time of year and the bitter weather. In the South Yorkshire region, there was particularly high engagement in Hallam (78.4%) whilst in neighbouring Central, 4 in 10 people failed to turn out.
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