North Somerset voters have re-elected Liam Fox as their MP by a convincing margin.
Dr Fox claimed 32,801 votes, on a turnout of 77 per cent (62,296), beating Labour’s Hannah Young by more than 17,000 votes.
After the result was declared shortly before 5am in Weston-super-Mare’s Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Dr Fox announced it was an “honour and a privilege” to represent his constituents.
Opening his speech with a smile, he said: “The nice thing about the national result tonight is we’re not going to have to do this again for another five years, so you’re all going to get a bit of a break.”
Describing the national contest as a “very important” one, he said: “It’s been a constitutional election and in my view it’s been a vindication of our democratic system and I think that all voters who took part in this election played a very important part in vindicating one of the great strengths of the UK, which is our democracy.”
The result came on a night when prime minister Boris Johnson saw his party register a huge victory over Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour, with Mr Corbyn quickly announcing he would not act as leader for the next general election.
Dr Fox appeared reasonably confident of retaining his seat a couple of hours before his re-election was confirmed, telling Bristol Live: “This is my eighth election and it’s very reassuring to know I still have the support of the constituents.”
He said: “I think people knew the nature of the election and it was about a matter of trust in our political system and I very much campaigned on the view that it didn’t matter what you voted, to leave or remain in the EU referendum - parliament had given its word that it would honour the referendum and then a lot of MPs decided not to.
“I have always seen this election as more about democracy than about Brexit and I think that message registered with voters.”
Dr Fox was first elected to the House of Commons in 1992, when he was backed by voters in Woodspring, an area he served until 2010, when the constituency of North Somerset was formed.
The Scotsman, who was formerly a general practitioner, has previously served as defence secretary (2010-11) and international trade secretary (2016-19).
The North Somerset constituency covers the towns of Clevedon, Portishead and Nailsea as well as many villages.
Overall turnout for North Somerset was 77.68 per cent, up from 76.9 per cent in 2017.
Postal vote turnout was 87 per cent.
Here are the full results from North Somerset:
Liam Fox (Conservative): 32,801
Hannah Young (Labour): 15,265
Ashley Cartman (Liberal Democrat): 11,051
Phil Neave (Greens): 2,938
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