Orpington General Election 2024 results as Tories win seat amid 'terrible' night

Joe Coughlan

5 July 2024 at 1:35 am·2-min read

Gareth Bacon shortly after being elected Conservative MP for Orpington — -Credit: (Image: Joe Coughlan)

The Conservative Party's Gareth Bacon has been elected as MP for Orpington, following a trend which has seen the area being represented by the Tory Party for over 50 years. The result represents the MP's second consecutive term in the role.

The candidate beat Labour's Ju Owens by 5,118 votes. Mark Bradley James, representing Reform UK, followed in third place, with Graeme Casey of the Liberal Democrats coming in fourth.

Gareth Bacon said in his acceptance speech that despite his party's success in Orpington, the night had been a 'terrible' result for the Conservatives and that there were lessons to be learned. He criticised the political group in his acceptance speech for its open display of division in public.

Mr Bacon told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We got ourselves through the Covid pandemic and the early stages of the war in Ukraine and slippage in opinion polls caused, I think, some of my colleagues to react very badly. That led to deep and public divisions, and divided parties don't win elections. And I think that there are some people who need to reflect on that."

The 2024 General Election Orpington candidates -Credit:Joe Coughlan

The Orpington results in full

Conservative - Gareth Bacon - 17,504

Labour - Ju Owens - 12,386

Reform UK - Mark Bradley James - 8,896

Liberal Democrats - Graeme Casey - 4,728

Green Party - Seamus McCauley - 2,319

Social Democratic Party - John Hunter Bright - 240

The results were called at 3.30am at Churchill Court in Bromley. Turnout for the seat was 64.86 per cent with a total of 46,238 votes, representing a 5.84 per cent decrease compared to the 2019 General Election. The number of rejected ballot papers was 165.

Orpington has been represented by the Conservatives since 1970, with the constituency covering the Bromley Council wards of Chelsfield, Darwin, Farnborough and Crofton, Orpington, Petts Wood and Knoll, St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cray. This marks Gareth Bacon's second term in the seat, with the 2019 General Election seeing him elected by a 45.9 per cent majority.

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The Orpington results in full

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