South West experiences 'electoral earthquake'

Ben Maguire, the newly-appointed Lib Dem MP for North Cornwall (in the suit), says being elected was the "simply the greatest privilege of my life"

A seemingly plausible theory in the run-up to the general election suggested there might be dramatic change nationally but rather less of an upset here in the South West.

Several Conservative MPs who have just lost their seats were bullish about their prospects and the sheer size of many of the Tory majorities clearly presented a massive obstacle to either Labour or the Liberal Democrats.

In reality the region has just experienced the biggest electoral earthquake in a century.

Labour has not just won the three targets seats it pursued so assiduously but gone far beyond that.

'Vengeance with bells on'

Records would have been broken had it only taken its two target seats in Cornwall – Truro and Falmouth and Camborne and Redruth.

But it doubled that tally, adding St Austell and Newquay and South East Cornwall – constituencies which have never previously had Labour MPs.

Overnight Cornwall as a whole has gone from having six Conservative MPs to none.

In Devon, Labour added its target seat of Plymouth Moor View – which traditionally seesaws between Labour and the Conservatives – to its previous tally of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Exeter.

It did not win any other Devon seats but came extraordinarily close in the previously safe Tory constituency of Central Devon.

For the Liberal Democrats, this was vengeance with bells on for their wipe-out at the hands of the Conservatives just nine years ago.

Seats which fell like dominos in 2015 have returned to the Lib Dem fold: North Devon, North Cornwall, St Ives and Torbay.

Caroline Voaden is the new Lib Dem MP for South Devon, a seat the Tories had held for over 100 years

Likewise, Honiton and Sidmouth and Tiverton and Minehead – both carved out of the previously safe Tory seat of Tiverton and Honiton won so spectacularly by the Lib Dems in a by-election in 2022.

Add to that Newton Abbot, lost to the Conservatives way back in 2010, and South Devon, long coveted by the Lib Dems but never won – until now.

The Conservatives, who held every seat bar three in the two counties just six weeks ago now have only four – and two of those by a whisker.

The electoral wheel has just turned in the most spectacular fashion.