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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
National
Matt Jarram

Labour's Vernon Coaker loses his Gedling seat after 22 years serving the area

The Conservatives have taken hold of Gedling from Labour's Vernon Coaker who has held the seat for 22 years.

The new MP for Gedling is Tom Randall who managed to beat Mr Coaker by just 679 votes in one of the most marginal seats in the county.

Mr Coaker had held onto the seat since 1997 but Gedling turned blue again after a night where many felt it could go either way.

Mr Coaker told Nottinghamshire Live: "I think Jeremy Corbyn will have to consider his position with such a bad result for Labour.

"It was a not a shock because it was something that was in the balance.

"At the end of the day we stood for what we believed and it was A great privilege to have represented the people of Gedling for so many years.

"Nothing went wrong with our campaign; people obviously raised the issue of leadership, that was raised on a number of occasions.

"The highlights for me have been trying to sort individual issues and to be a voice that speaks to a faceless beaucracy."

He said his next task is "going to bed" and praised his "wonderful family."

He said he would continue to work within the community he loves.

Mr Randall, who is now the new MP for Gedling, said: "I look forward to serving the whole community of Gedling. A place I am very proud to call home.

"I could ask for no better role model than my predecessor, Vernon Coaker. He has been an outstanding constituency worker and will be a tough act to follow but I will do my very best."

The results were:

Vernon Coaker, Labour - 22,039

Graham Hunt, Brexit Party - 1,820

Jim Norris, The Green Party - 1,097

Anita Prabhakar, Liberal Democrat - 2,279

Tom Randall, Conservative - 22,718

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