Why Labour lost Leicester East: Voters make their views clear

Last night saw big swings from the Conservatives to Labour, but in Leicester East, things went the other way. In 2019 the Labour Party candidate Claudia Webbe won with a healthy majority of more than 6,000 - although that was well down on Keith Vaz's 22,000 majority from June 2017.

Labour MPs for the seat have a history of controversy, with Mr Vaz being suspended from Parliament over a scandal involving sex workers that also saw him stand down from his prestigious role as chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

And then Ms Webbe was also kicked out of the party after she was convicted of harassing a woman, leading to her being ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work by a court. Both Mr Vaz and Ms Webbe stood against the Labour candidate Rajesh Agrawal, possibly making a win harder for him.

READ MORE: What went wrong for Jon Ashworth in Leicester South? Voters give one clear answer

In the end, the Conservatives' Shivani Raja won with a majority of just over 4,000 after a vote involving 10 different candidates.

Beena Patel, manager of the Indikal clothing shop on Belgrave Road, was happy to see Ms Raja winning. said: "I think it's a great result. I know she's new, but it looks like she knows what she's doing.

"Hopefully she'll do things for Leicester East. She came to the shop during the campaign and I know she's been up and down the road a few times.

"She seems lovely and knows what she's talking about."

Along the Golden Mile there are plenty of posters for Mr Vaz, a few for Ms Raja and also some for the Liberal Democrat candidate Zuffar Haq, who came third in the election. But it turns out people were not expecting the former MPs Mr Vaz and Ms Webbe to do very well.

One 34-year-old man said: "We were fond of Keith Vaz and despite the stories about his personal life he was a good MP. But I don't think he was ever going to win again.

"He's been gone for so long. It's good to have someone new here. It's a big change but the new MP seems capable."

A shop owner, who had a poster urging people to support Ms Raja outside her business, said: "It's a good change - she's very nice.

"We're not very happy with Labour, I don't think. But that's for national reasons, mostly. Keith Vaz was doing a good job when he was MP but that's in the past now."

Mr Vaz, standing as a One Leicester candidate, managed 3,681 votes, while Ms Webbe got 5,532. One 62-year-old man, who did not want to be named, said: "Maybe if Vaz and Webbe weren't standing it would have been different - they wouldn't have taken the votes away from Labour.

"But I think people around here are happy to have a change."

Ms Raja's victory is the first non-Labour win in Leicester East for 37 years. The 30 year old was born in Leicester and studied at Herrick Primary, Soar Valley College, Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth II college.

She graduated with First Class Honours in Cosmetic Science from De Montfort University and was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Miss India UK beauty pageant.