Sir Ed Davey hails 'exceptional' election result for Liberal Democrats

Sir Ed Davey has hailed the Liberal Democrats’ “exceptional” results in the general election.

When polls closed on Thursday night, the exit poll by Ipsos UK for Sky News, the BBC and ITV News suggested the Lib Dems would win 61 seats – up from 11 – more than five times the number they secured at the last election in 2019.

Since then, the Lib Dems have secured a number of gains from the Tories – including in Wells & Mendip Hills, Dorking & Horley, Wimbledon, Yeovil, Hampshire North East and Norfolk North.

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The Lib Dems also unseated multiple prominent Tory cabinet ministers.

Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, lost to Max Wilkinson in Cheltenham.

The party also took Chichester – with Jess Brown-Fuller beating Education Secretary Gillian Keegan with a majority of 12,172 votes.

While Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer lost her seat in Ely & East Cambridgeshire and Michelle Donelan lost to Liberal Democrat Brian Mathew taking her place in Melksham and Devizes with a 2,406 majority.

The Lib Dems had set out to target the so-called ‘Blue Wall’ of Conservative seats in the southwest and southeast of England, and its strategy appears to have paid off.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed was re-elected in his Kingston & Surbiton seat with 25,870 votes, ahead of his Conservative rival Helen Edward on 8,635.

Speaking at The King’s Centre in Chessington, in southwest London, Sir Ed said the party had put voters’ concerns “at the heart of our campaign”, adding that he had “rather enjoyed” the six-week run-up to the election.

Throughout the campaign, he has conducted a series of stunts such as paddle boarding, bungee jumping and conducting an interview on a fairground teacup ride.

“I think it’s possible to have a serious debate as well as having a bit of fun. I don’t take myself as a politician seriously. I want to take the concerns of the British people seriously,” Sir Ed said after his re-election.

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“I hope that the style we’ve gone about it has encouraged people to join the Liberal Democrats.

“It’s certainly encouraged them to vote for us. This is an exceptional result, a historic result for the Liberal Democrats.”

Eyewitness: The Lib Dems begin celebrating a successful night

By Matthew Thompson, Sky correspondent

The sun is just about coming up outside the Lib Dem election watch party in central London. And it dawns on what looks like a bright day for the party.

Party leader Sir Ed Davey arrived to rapturous applause, a boisterous chorus of Sweet Caroline, and he even indulged in some… shall we say enthusiastic dancing, even if it wasn’t quite worthy of Strictly.

And the party has good reason to be happy. As it stands, projections of around 60 seats are close to their upper expectations. As one senior source said to me: “If you’d offered me 60 seats three months ago, I’d have bitten your arm off.”

One thing that stands out though is that their share of the vote, with over half the votes counted, hasn’t budget at all from their calamitous 2019 performance. On national share, at least, they trail some distance behind Reform, in fourth place.

Nobody in this room is currently very bothered about that. They’re too busy celebrating a successful night, as well they might.

But to progress at the next election, or even to hold on to what they’ve gained, you wonder if they might need to spend some time thinking about how to broaden the party’s appeal.

He added that Lib Dem policies on issues like health and the cost of living crisis have “been heard louder and clearer because of the way we presented ourselves in this positive light”.

Sir Ed has represented Kingston & Surbiton since 1997, apart from in 2015 when he lost to Conservative James Berry in a backlash against the coalition government.

Source Agencies