Better than 2005: Lib Dems win 6 out of 7 seats in the new Winchester constituency

12.44.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 7th Jun 2009

Liberal Democrats in Winchester are celebrating winning 6 out of 7 seats in the new Winchester constituency, with an increased vote compared to that they achieved on the day of the General Election in 2005.

Jackie Porter, Charlotte Bailey, Brian Collin, Phryn Dickens and Alan Broadhurst successfully defended their divisions and Brian Collin won the Winchester Eastgate division after Pam Peskett decided to stand down.

Across the new constituency, the Lib Dem team got 48% of the vote. The Conservative vote slumped to 38%. Labour collapsed to 4%. UKIP got 6% of the vote and the Greens 3%.

The Lib Dem vote was up compared to the County Council elections held on the same day as the 2005 General Election. The Conservative vote was down.

Overall, there was a 4.4% swing from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats compared to our vote last year and a clear swing in the Lib Dems favour compared to the results on General Election day in 2005.

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Martin Tod, commented:

"These are incredible results and put us at an excellent starting point for the General Election campaign."

"We owe a huge debt of thanks to all our candidates for their incredible commitment and hard work. There's no doubt that their personal work over the last few months and years played a pivotal part in our success on Thursday."