Americans living in Essex gives verdict on Donald Trump US Election victory

An American living in Essex says the US election result will be "very good for the world" as she shared her delight at Donald Trump's victory. It comes as expats in Essex were split over the result with one Democrat admitting they were "floored".

Republican Mr Trump was elected to be the 47th President of the United States, beating Democrat candidate Kamala Harris. He has secured more than the 270 electoral votes needed to return to the White House.

Linda Impey, 77, from Maryland in the US but lives in Essex, said the Republican president’s win is “very good for the world”. Mrs Impey, who was unable to vote as her absentee ballot didn’t arrive in the post, also thinks Mr Trump’s friendship with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage would be “helpful” for the UK.

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“I think it’s a great thing, and I think because it’s going to be good for the economy and it’s going to sort out the immigration,” the retired school matron said. "I think JD Vance is an absolutely great pick for vice president because he’s the polar opposite to Donald Trump. He’s led a very meagre young life, whereas Donald Trump has come from a privileged background."

"I do think it’d be very good for the world, maybe not so good for China, because he’s going to put a lot of tariffs on and I think because we’ve left the EU, I think this country will be more fair, much better than the EU with import tax,” she said. "I’m thrilled with the result."

Democrat voter Pete Lawler, who has spent the last two months campaigning across London to get fellow Americans in the UK to vote, said he was “floored” by the result. The teacher, 46, lives in Wathamstow but is from swing state Pennsylvania and admitted he was still processing the result.

“I’m feeling emotional frustration right now, I’ve already cried once this morning. I’m just settling into processing things,” Mr Lawler said. He said his colleagues were looking at him with a “sense of bereavement” on Wednesday morning.

Mr Lawler was among fellow Democrats at an event at the London School of Economics campus in central London on Tuesday night. He said: "People were quite happy, excited and jubilant. There was a sense of their sense of giddiness. There was a sense of anticipation. There was a sense that we were all kind of pulling together towards the same positive outcome."

However, after chatting to his brother on Tuesday night, that hope shifted. “I was chatting to my brother, who was working last night, I think he was helping to cure ballots,” he said. “We were kind of texting back and forth. And about 3.10am last night, he texted me to say things (were) not looking good.

"I think as Democrats, as progressives, we haven’t quite got to the point where we’ve been able to articulate or figure out why the lived reality of people in America doesn’t match up with the objective reality of the way the economy is going. I think that the right has been able to steer the conversation, that’s meant that people have been able to blame that feeling of not doing well on the outsider or people who are not like them."