Staffordshire General Election results: Tory Amanda Milling fends off challenge from 7/7 hero Paul Dadge
Conservative dominance in Staffordshire continues with five seats staying blue.
Cannock Chase, Stafford, Stone, Lichfield and South Staffordshire were all won by Conservatives in 2015 and each seat is staying Tory after the 2017 snap poll.
Scroll through for the full results and reaction from each constituency.
Cannock Chase result - Conservative hold
Amanda Milling, Conservative - 26,318
Paul Dadge, Labour - 17,927
Paul Allen, UKIP - 2,018
Paul Woodhead, Green - 815
Nat Green, Lib Deb - 794
Turnout - 64.3%
Votes cast - 47,950 out of electorate of 74,540
Conservative Amanda Milling crushed the Labour challenge of Paul Dadge to retain her seat for Cannock Chase, nearly doubling her majority in the process.
Ms Milling polled 26,318 votes to Mr Dadge’s 17,927, a safe majority of 8,391, while turnout was at 64.3 per cent.
Speaking just after the result was announced at 2am, Ms Milling, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled with the result and incredibly grateful to the residents of Cannock Chase for re-electing me. When I was elected in 2015 I was expecting to be the MP for five years then in two years I found myself fighting for the seat again.
“I am really pleased that although I have only been the MP for two years the residents have re-elected me for another term.”
With UKIP only managing just over 2,000 votes this election compared to the more than 8,000 the party polled in 2015, Ms Milling said: “I have not done all the number crunching but certainly what I would say is picking up on the doorstep UKIP voters were coming in our direction.”
Quizzed about the prospect of her friend Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister and Ms Milling finding a place in his cabinet, the MP laughed and proclaimed it was ‘too early in the night’.
Paul Dadge, a surprise pick for Labour to contest the seat, put in a strong performance polling more than 2,000 votes than Janos Toth did for Labour in 2015.
Speaking about the defeat Mr Dadge, a hero of the 7/7 terror attacks whose friend Hugh Grant campaigned with him, said: “From having a quick look at the results it appears the UKIP vote has moved to the Conservatives. It is a disappointing end to a very very quick campaign with two terrorist attacks in the middle of it.
“But I am not going anywhere and we will build from here and I will make sure I am around to represent the Labour party in the constituency."
Asked about the prospect of running again as the Labour candidate in the district, Mr Dadge said: “Why not.”
After the results were announced by Tony McGovern, the chief executive of Cannock Chase District Council and the man in charge of the election count last night, both Ms Milling and Mr Dadge took to the stage in the sports hall at the Chase Leisure Centre in Cannock to praise the victims of the terror attacks during the campaign and to thank their supporters for their hard work.
Stafford result - Conservative hold
Jeremy Lefroy, Conservative - 28,424
David Williams, Labour - 20,695
Christine Tinker, Liberal Democrat - 1,540
Tony Pearce, Green - 1,265
Spoiled papers - 122
Turnout - 76.04%
Jeremy Lefroy held Stafford for the Conservatives for the third time today, fending off the Labour challenge by some 8,000 votes.
Mr Lefroy had his majority cut slightly from that in 2015 but was still comfortably ahead of Labour’s David Williams.
There was an exceptionally high turnout of 76.04 per cent which adds weight to Mr Lefroy’s mandate.
In his winner’s speech, Mr Lefroy, said: “It is absolutely vital that everyone elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland works together in the interests of our country and not in self interest.
“We have some vital tasks ahead of us which were made quite clear to us by the electorate and we need to listen to what the electorate have said to us so clearly.”
Tony Pearce, the Green Party candidate, said: “I think the Tories have had a terrible campaign. People were really surprised when Theresa May called this election after saying so many times she wouldn’t. It was pure opportunism.
“The Tory campaign and Theresa May floundered. Strong and stable turned to weak and wobbly.
“It has been one of the most interesting elections which has rebounded massively on Theresa May and the Conservatives. If she is still in No.10 next week I would be surprised.”
There was frantic activity at the leisure centre as ballot boxes arrived from all over the borough from 10.15pm.
Security was unusually high for the count with three armed officers standing guard as boxes were brought from cars into the sports hall and an adjoining marquee.
There was no UKIP candidate this time around despite the party winning more than 6,000 votes – 12.9 per cent of the total share, in 2015.
The Liberal Democrat candidate, Christine Tinker, was unable to attend the count at Stafford Leisure Centre due to personal reasons.
Stone result - Conservative hold
Bill Cash, Conservative - 31,614
Sam Hale, Labour - 14,119
Martin Lewis, Liberal Democrat - 2,222
Edward Whitfield, UKIP - 1,370
Samantha Pancheri, Green - 707
Spoiled papers - 99
Turnout - 73.91%
South Staffordshire result - Conservative hold
Conservative - Gavin Williamson - 35,656
Labour - Adam Freeman - 12,923
Lib Dem - Hilary Myers – 1,348
Green - Claire McIlvenna - 1,182
Spoiled ballots - 171
Turnout - 69.8%
Gavin Williamson was elected for the Conservatives, with 35,656 votes.
Government Chief Whip Gavin Williamson held on to his seat with another huge majority of 22,733.
Mr Williamson said: "It is an immense privileged to be re-elected for South Staffordshire, one of the most beautiful, wonderful consistencies in this country and it is an honour to have the opportunity to continue to serve in this next parliament."
Speaking of his priorities, Mr Williamson said: "We need to be making sure that we are putting all our efforts into fighting the rail freight hub in South Staffordshire that has been proposed at Four Ashes.
"This is a campaign that we had already started. We were already leading on this when the election came along and we sadly had to pause it. But the consultation is is going to be starting and we need to make sure that the voices of the people of South Staffordshire have their voices heard and that we do everything we can to stop it from destroying so much of our countryside."
Labour candidate Adam Freeman congratulated Mr Williamson before criticising the Prime Minister for calling the snap election.
He said: "This whole election was called by Theresa May trying to force through a hard Brexit. She tried to force through more austerity and a country that has less policing and public services.
"She is standing on the wrong side of the people. We have just heard from Jeremy Corbyn who will be the next Prime Minister and it is the Labour party who represent the many rather than the few."
Lichfield result - Conservative hold
Michael Fabricant, Conservative - 34,018
Christopher Worsey, Labour - 15,437
Paul Ray, Liberal Democrat - 2,653
Robert Pass, Green - 1,416
Turnout - 72.1%
Votes cast - 53,524 out of an electorate of 74,430
Michael Fabricant sealed his seventh straight victory at a General Election with a comfortable win.
The flamboyant Mr Fabricant polled 34,018 votes - increasing his majority from 2015 by 8.4 per cent.
He insisted that Theresa May should stay on as Tory leader after a disappointing night for his party.
Reflecting on his own result he said: “This result for Lichfield is a good result. We’ve seen more people voting this time than we have in a long time.
“I’m very pleased to see many of them were younger voters too which is good news for democracy in our area.
“There hasn’t been the landslide some were predicting, not that I thought there was going to be a landslide.
“But it is clear the results have been very close.”
Turnout was announced at 72.1 per cent, an increase from 69.3 per cent at the last General Election.
Mr Fabricant, a pro-Brexit MP in a pro-Brexit constituency, was defending a huge majority of 18,189 and with UKIP not standing it was expected the Eurosceptic would increase the gap between the Tories and Labour.
The four-way contest saw Mr Worsey, Mr Ray and Mr Pass all stand again after being on the ballot paper in 2015.
However, Mr Fabricant's victory means the Conservative success in Staffordshire has continued.
