The Liberal Democrats have elected Sir Ed Davey as their new leader by more than 17,000 votes.
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson announced: “There were 117,924 ballot papers issued, a record high for any of our leadership elections. Turnout was 57.6%.
“The votes for each candidate were: Ed Davey, 42,756, Layla Moran, 24, 564. And so Ed Davey has been elected the next leader of the Liberal Democrats.”
Former leader Jo Swinson dramatically lost her East Dunbartonshire seat in last December’s election.
Voting closed yesterday at 1pm.
The Liberal Democrats won just 11 seats last year, and after an internal inquiry into the party’s poor performance likened the campaign to a “high-speed car crash”, the next leader will be aiming to turn the party’s fortunes around.
Sir Ed, the MP for Kingston and Surbiton, is an experienced politician and former minister who first entered the Commons in 1997.
Sir Ed was a business minister under former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg during the coalition years, and then moved to secretary of state for energy and climate change in 2012, promoting green energy policies.
He has temporarily co-led the party with Lib Dem peer Baroness Sal Brinton since Ms Swinson stepped down in 2019.
Sir Ed said the leadership election had put both candidates through their paces.
He said: “The next leader faces a huge job to rebuild the party, take on the Conservatives and get the party winning nationally again.
“This contest has put both candidates through our paces and made sure that the victor is battle-tested for this tough job ahead.”
Liberal Democrat members were able to vote for their preferred leader from when ballots went out on July 30 until Wednesday August 26.
Bath MP Wera Hobhouse announced she was entering the race in February, but withdrew from the contest.
