Greg Hands Loses Chelsea and Fulham by Narrow Margin
Labour's Ben Coleman elected as MP by just 152 votes after recounts
Ben Coleman at the election night count
July 5, 2024
The Tory stronghold of Chelsea and Fulham has swung to Labour for the first time since its inception in 2010. Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s Deputy Leader, Ben Coleman, beat Conservative Greg Hands by 152 votes. Mr Hands won with a majority of 11,241 in 2019.
Mr Coleman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) a priority following his election is to ensure Charing Cross Hospital gets the refurbishment promised by the former Tory Government.
Boundary changes have seen the composition of the seat slightly altered since the last election, with the Fulham Reach and West Kensington wards added and Brompton and Hans Town moved to Kensington and Bayswater. Turnout at this year’s election was down on 2019, at 60.3 per cent compared to 69.8 per cent five years’ ago.
Polls leading up to the General Election had predicted the result would be close-run, with the potential the seat would become part of an expected Inner London ‘red tide’ taking in former Tory constituencies.
Blaise Baquiche, the Liberal Democrats’ candidate, had conceded earlier in the evening that while the response had been good on the doorstep during canvassing, there was an element of ‘realism’ regarding the party’s chances.
Penned in to end around 3am, the count ended up running until 6.30am, with recounts pushing the announcement later into the morning.
Following the result, Mr Coleman said he feels ‘absolutely delighted’ to have won Chelsea and Fulham for Labour for the first time, and that he is “determined to do the best I can for everybody in the constituency”.
Asked about his priorities in Government, he acknowledged the the party’s national aims including increasing police number and reducing the NHS waiting list.
“A local priority for me is following up on the fantastic promise that West Streeting, the Shadow Health Secretary, made when he came down just the other day to the constituency and said that Charing Cross would get the modernisation and the rebuild that it was promised by the Conservative Government, and then they dropped [it],” he added. “And my priority is going to be making that happen.”
The exit poll published Thursday evening suggested Sir Keir Starmer’s party was on-course to secure a landslide win, with 410 seats to the Conservatives’ 131. At the time of writing, some constituencies remained unannounced, though Labour had passed the 326 needed to form the next Government.
Full list of results for General Election July 2024:
| Ben Coleman (Labour) | 18,556 |
| Greg Hands (Conservatives) | 18,404 |
| Blaise Baquiche (Liberal Democrats) | 3,611 |
| Anthony Goodwin (Reform UK) | 3,144 |
| Mona Crocker (Green Party) | 2,798 |
| Sabi Patwary (Workers Party) | 538 |
| David Poulden (Heritage Party) | 65 |
General election 2019: Chelsea and Fulham |
||||
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
Conservative |
Greg Hands |
23,345 |
49.9 |
–2.7 |
Liberal Democrats |
Nicola Horlick |
12,104 |
25.9 |
+14.9 |
Labour |
Matt Uberoi |
10,872 |
23.2 |
–10.0 |
Animal Welfare |
Sam Morland |
500 |
1.0 |
New |
Majority |
11,241 |
24.0 |
+4.6 |
|
Turnout |
46,821 |
69.8 |
+3.7 |
|
Registered electors |
67,110 |
|||
Conservative hold |
Swing |
–8.8 |
||
General election 2017: Chelsea and Fulham |
||||
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
Conservative |
Greg Hands |
22,179 |
52.6 |
–10.3 |
Labour |
Alan De'Ath |
13,991 |
33.2 |
+10.1 |
Liberal Democrats |
Louise Rowntree |
4,627 |
11.0 |
+5.8 |
Green |
Bill Cashmore |
807 |
1.9 |
–1.8 |
UKIP |
Alasdair Seton-Marsden |
524 |
1.2 |
–3.9 |
Majority |
8,188 |
19.4 |
–20.4 |
|
Turnout |
42,128 |
66.1 |
+2.7 |
|
Registered electors |
63,728 |
|||
Conservative hold |
Swing |
–10.3 |
||
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter
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