Yahoo News Rise of Reform UK sees it beat the Tories into third in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
The Conservatives’ miserable night was summed up in the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport seat where the party was pushed into third place by Reform UK. Labour’s Luke Pollard stormed to victory with an increased majority of 20,795, but Tory candidate Gareth Streeter was knocked into third.
The son of long-standing former South West Devon MP Gary Streeter received 6,873 votes, a 16.33% share of the ballot. But he was edged by Reform UK’s Peter Gold who polled 7,467 votes, a 17.7% share and higher than the national average for his party.
Mr Gold often campaigned wearing a Star Trek uniform during the campaign and boldly went where no Reform UK candidate had gone before in the city by coming second. The Green Party also took more votes than the Lib Dems in Sutton and Devonport.
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Cam Hayward’s 3,186 votes, a 7.57% share, relegated the Lib Dem Holly Greenberry-Pullen into fifth place, with 2,441 votes and 5.8%.
Overall, it was a romp for Mr Pollard, who first won the seat from the Tories in 2017, who took 49.4% of the vote and landed a majority of 13,328.
Nationally, Reform UK took 14.4% of the vote, translating to success in four seats including seeing party leaders Nigel Farage and Richard Tice elected. Part of the Conservative’s disastrous showing nationally has been blamed on the rise of Reform UK, which may have split votes on the right.
In Plymouth Moor View, Reform UK’s Shaun Hooper came third but gained 9,670 votes. Tory former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer lost his seat to Labour’s Fred Thomas, but polled 12,061 votes.
Mr Thomas won with 17,665 votes, although it is possible some traditional Labour votes may have gone to Reform UK in this constituency. The Lib Dem’s Sarah Martin just held off the Greens’ Georgia Nelson to come fourth, with 1,766 and 1,694 votes respectively.
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