December 13, 2019 5.25 am This story is over 51 months old

A blue Christmas: Conservatives win every Greater Lincolnshire seat

A true blue result for Greater Lincolnshire
Boris Johnson's party swept the board nationally overnight taking a number of Labour constituencies. He is pictured here with MP Matt Warman who retained his Boston and Skegness seat.

The Conservatives have turned Greater Lincolnshire true blue in a night which saw some major shifts locally and nationally.

As exit polls predicted, a Tory majority was achieved and Labour suffered a relentless round of hits.

As Greater Lincolnshire declared its final result, and the night stretched into the morning, the truth became clearer. Boris Johnson and his Lincolnshire candidates cashed in a majority for their party and the opposition lamented their mistakes.

So how did the county vote?

The results across Greater Lincolnshire were clear and unbroken:

A comfortable victory for Conservatives in Lincoln

In Lincoln, the fight between Labour and the Conservatives looked close, but it was Karl McCartney who took the victory.

With 24,267 of the votes, Karl managed a +12.7 point swing in favour of his party.

Karen Lee’s position had already looked extremely precarious prior to the vote, with pollsters tipping a switch in power early on.

Speaking after his victory, McCartney called it a “very proud night”.

The battle in Lincoln saw the city’s seat change hands back to Conservatives after two years.

“It has been a Brexit general election, I’m proud to once again have the honour and privilege of being the MP for Lincoln and I look forward to serving in Boris Johnson’s government… to deliver Brexit,” he said.

Lee said she would not deny she was “disappointed”. “It’s been a huge honour and privilege to represent the city I was born in and have lived in all my life,” she said.

North turns blue

In an evening where Labour was predicted for shocking losses, Grimsby and Scunthorpe – long-time safe seats for the party – were major casualties.

In Scunthorpe, Conservative Holly Mumby-Croft claimed Nic Dakin’s seat from him with 20,306 of the votes, while in Great Grimsby Melanie Onn was forced to concede her seat, which Labour had held since 1945, to Lia Nici who took 18,150 of the votes.

Lia Nici won the Great Grimsby seat for the Conservatives for the first time in 74 years.

Elsewhere, in Brigg and Goole Conservative Andrew Percy kept his seat with 30,941 votes.

In Cleethorpes, Martin Vickers also kept his seat for the Conservatives achieving 31,969 votes.

True blue seats stay safe

Across the rest of Lincolnshire, the usual suspects kept hold of their safe strongholds.

Household Conservative name Edward Leigh returned to his own Gainsborough constituency with 33,893 votes, while South Holland and Deepings’ John Hayes achieved 37,338 votes.

Sir Edward Leigh, Martin Vickers, Sir John Hayes and Dr Caroline Johnson all held on to their seats.

Nick Boles’ former seat of Grantham and Stamford also stayed with the Conservatives, with Gareth Davies taking over after Nick stepped down earlier this year. The party gained 36,794 votes.

Elsewhere in Lincolnshire, Victoria Atkins was returned to the Louth and Horncastle seat with 38,021 votes, Matt Warman retained his Boston and Skegness seat with 31,963 votes, Sleaford and North Hykeham also stayed blue with Caroline Johnson taking a majority of 44,683 votes.

SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL DEMOCRACY WEEKLY, our exclusive email newsletter with highlights from coverage every week, as well as insights and analysis from our local democracy reporters.