Voting in Abingdon

Voters in Abingdon voted in the UK’s third general election in five years, and the second election in 2019. Key issues were Brexit and the NHS.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
The vast majority of signs round Abingdon were Lib-Dem. The majority of the literature we received was also Lib-Dem.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
There was surprisingly little literature from the Conservatives, and fewer Conservative signs than usual. There were no high profile visits.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
Labour brought us a couple of leaflets.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
There was one leaflet from the Brexit Party.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
It was a wet polling day. The rain got heavier after about 10 am and eased off towards evening.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
Umbrellas were common at the polling stations where there was little parking, including Trinity, and the Guildhall,
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
and St John’s Ambulance station.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
There were fewer umbrellas where parking was easier. The tellers at Preston Road and Long Furlong told me there was a good turnout.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
The road was blocked near the Northcourt Centre Polling Station as new gas mains are being put in.
MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
Candidates for Oxford West & Abingdon were Layla Moran (Liberal Democrats), James Frederickson (Conservatives), Rosie Sourbut (Labour), and Allison Wild (Brexit Party).

The result was:
Layla Moran (Liberal Democrats) 31,340 votes (held seat)
James Frederickson (Conservatives) 22,397 votes
Rosie Sourbut (Labour) 4,258 votes
Allison Wild (Brexit Party) 829 votes.

42 thoughts on “Voting in Abingdon

  1. Julian Annells

    The amount of waste paper from the unliberal undemocratic party was scandalous! I thought they were into saving the planet!

    Reply
  2. John

    Well done Layla for holding the seat for the most liberal and most democratic party. I agree the amount of literature produced was OTT. Was it that, that worked, or simply the clear heads of 31,340 local voters?

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  3. Janet

    I do wonder about the boundaries of the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency. What has Abingdon got in common with the afluent Boars Hill and Cumnor? I also read that a lot of Oxford Colleges are in the consituency. Apparently the seat was created in 1983. Margaret Thatcher was voted in power then.

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  4. Daniel

    *** R and Flamingo Lane – PLEASE DO NOT READ ***

    I think it is great to see that the majority voted for local issues were top of the agenda and people voted for Layla to sort the diamond interchange.

    Reply
  5. Andrew

    I think she’s odds on to be the Lib Dem leader now. I have a feeling this won’t particularly help Abingdon as she’ll be focussed on the party.
    I also suspect Boris will be rewarding those constituencies that voted for him and looking to keep those sweet for the future. We’ll be sidelined and not get a look in.

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  6. Janet

    Yes what hope is there for South Abingdon now? The Kingfisher Canoe Club which had been in South Abingdon for years and provided recreation for youth was turfed out. The Vale enabled a monopoly in the Reynolds Way shops which led to the paper shop and post office being closed. It all looks very run down now. It seems that no one is bothered about South Abingdon.

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  7. Lyle Lanley

    Indeed Daniel, even tho she has little to no influence over it..

    In any case, we won’t be seeing much of her as she pursues her leadership dream in Westminster.

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  8. Peter Del

    Disenfranchising 17 million people is a disgrace (and I wasn’t one of them).
    I have suspected for some time that Moran wants to be leader, and now that chance has arisen.

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  9. Sue

    The lack of Conservative posters could have been because in 2017 their boards/posters in north Abingdon were either torn down or defaced. Undemocratic vandalism by someone.

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  10. horsesmouth

    Peter et you are correct when you say 17.5 million were disenfranchised by the LIb/Dem promise to withdraw article 50 and for sure that was the fundamental reason why they lost so many seats, locally though I think it naive of Layla to think she’s home and dry? to confirm today she’s still hell bent on stopping brexit is complacent to say the least and she best remember behind every Captain who wins a battle is an army of soldiers ( local councillors) who do all the dirty work.She’d do well to remember her colleagues who lost their seats because of their parties “Bollox to Brexit) position and be thankful she has a lot of good people working tirelessly in support.

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  11. Bookman

    No one was ‘disenfranchised’ by Swinson’s pledge to Revoke A50 if the LibDems were elected to power. They could only reach power if they got sufficient votes, in which case they would have had a mandate to Revoke. They were never going to get sufficient national votes to achieve that mandate, and Swinson – and whoever supported her – was stupid to make the pledge. Moran, on the other hand, has – even recently – been promoting a ‘People’s Vote’ on the actual Brexit terms that Johnson has ‘negotiated’ rather than on the unachievable Brexit on which the 2016 campaign and vote was based. Swinson has gone – thankfully – but Moran has been re-elected with 53.3% of the vote, the highest percentage in the constituency since it was established in 1983.

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  12. horsesmouth

    There are those who, disillusioned with other parties joined (and paid up) the Lib/Dem party a year or so ago prior to their cut & dry and very vocal objection to support the will of the 17.5 million who voted to leave and some of those who voted leave would have been Lib/dem members/supporters and it is those who felt disenfranchised. Mindful to that many in this constituency voted Lib/Dem rather than, and as a protest against Corbynism, especially the few thousand at Dalton Barracks who had genuine concerns as to their future because of Corbyns anti military views and who would not normally have bothered. For sure Layla Moran has been a good MP, but what has helped her has been the poor way the conservatives have run the Vale, thinking about the positive things they’ve done here in the past thing I can only think of 1 and that was the introduction of 2 hour free parking? but the amount of negatives are endless, Morland gardens, built because they let the local plan expire, the Ock St/Marcham rd junction shambles they pushed through? 900 houses about to be built in north Abingdon and still no Diamond Interchange? Closing the childrens centre? Allowing Scottish Widow to renege on the precinct deal. the still boarded up Old Abbey House and the Upper reaches, its not very difficult (Layla) to be very good when all around are, or rather were, very poor.

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  13. Jessica Rabbit

    Congratulations to Layla an excellent local MP, hence the great majority. Jo Swinson’s was the only Lib Dem seat lost and only by 150 votes.
    Lib Dem leader is not an enviable position – just ask Nick Clegg and Jo Swinson.

    Reply
  14. Graham S

    That wasn’t their only loss, Norfolk North was another. The fact that Jo Swinson lost her seat says it all, she was a very uninspiring leader. Don’t compare her to Nick Clegg, he won many more seats in 2010 when he was up against two far more credible ‘main’ party leaders.

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  15. Daniel

    *** R and Flamingo Lane do not read ****

    I guess that really it just depends who you prefer on be let down by. Clearly many more people were happy to be let down my Nick Cleg than by Jo Swinson. One assumes just like many people decided being let down by Boris Johnson more appealing than being let down by someone else.

    Personally I found it very very hard to decide who I’d be happiest to be let down by.

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  16. PPJS

    It’s a mistake to think of manifestos as though they were promises. They are really little more than wish lists. To see them like this is to avoid disappointment.

    As JFK once said: Disillusionment is a good thing. It prevents us from living a world of illusion.

    The old saying, “Put not your trust in princes” [read: ‘politicians’] has force, but perpetual cynicism is not the answer.

    If we want our MP to work for us, we need to let her know what we want. I have found Ms Moran very responsive and helpful. I wish her well.

    Reply
  17. Julian Annells

    I am going to ignore the 31,340 of you that voted for her and as far as I’m concerned she is not my MP and it didn’t happen. If I get elected as the next PM I will revoke her result and make it null and void.

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  18. newcomer

    On a National basis the number of votes cast for, by MP elected, by Party was:

    Conservatives 38264
    Labour 50717
    Scottish Nats 25882
    Lib Dims 33604

    You get more bang for your bucks voting for the Scots Nats. Labour is really bad value.

    Proportional representation anyone?

    Layla Moran (shiver) got in at the below average Lib Dim ‘price’ of 31340 votes. … but, what the Hades … democracy means nothing to her.

    Am I right in thinking that her dad was/is an EU functionary and his employer paid for her expensive private education? Should this be the case it would help explain her stance.

    Reply
  19. PPJS

    I would like a transferable vote, but I know that it’s not likely. Live with what is.

    Perhaps Ms Moran’s values of hard work and determination come from her family upbringing as well. Please stop bad-mouthing those with whom you disagree.

    Reply
  20. Daniel

    *** R and Flamingo Lane do not read ****

    PPJS I don’t necessarily disagree with you; but our Layla simply needs to deliver the diamond interchange and indeed any “infrastructure before 1000’s of houses”. I guess we could let her know this again, but I was kinda hoping she already knows.

    All being well she’ll write a strongly worded email, when needed.

    My apologies, I mean ‘another’.

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  21. AndyM

    The Lib Dems actually only won one seat per 330000 odd votes. So newcomer is spreading misinformation and drawing incorrect conclusions – purely by accident I’m sure.

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  22. John

    The sores won’t heal if we we keep picking the scabs. Let’s swallow our pride and work together as good citizens of Abingdon

    Reply
  23. newcomer

    I’m sure The Guardian is a favourite paper of yours AndyM and that’s where the basic data came from:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2019/dec/12/uk-general-election-2019-full-results-live-labour-conservatives-tories

    Scroll down and you’ll see a table including the data that the LibDims achieved eleven seats from 3,696,423 votes. I’m sure that you can calculate the average for yourself, but in case it’s a problem the average is 33,604 … last digit rounded-up.

    It’s not me who’s trying to misinform, AndyM … you must try harder.

    It’s not the electorate that’s got to swallow pride, John … it’s the self-entitled dopes in parliament and their nincompoop SPADS. The biggest fools are those who don’t realise that they’re ain’t fooling anybody.

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  24. AndyM

    Thanks for making it easy newcomer. The Greens polled over 850000 votes yet are rewarded with only one seat. The Conservatives won a seat for every 38300 votes. I’ll let you practice your maths on that one.
    My favourite newspaper is irrelevant – unlike my maths O level.

    Reply
  25. newcomer

    Iain, Interesting lack of congruence in The Guardian figures and I don’t know whether they’ve got a decimal point in the wrong place re. the Lib Dim figures, the wrong figures entirely, or voting for that party doesn’t provide much value at all.

    Have a look at my source.

    Just scanning the table, 336,038 for the Lib Dims looks appalling in contrast to the established parities attempting National coverage … how many people are there in the country? … haven’t we been told?

    The ‘weighing’ of individual votes across the electorate looks a lot out of kilter.

    The Guardian is notorious for typos, but now I’d be coy of using them as a data source … well spotted, though, and I’m chastising myself for not scanning the table with a more critical eye … I’ll fret about it.

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  26. newcomer

    It’s total votes cast Nationally, AndyM that’s why I agree with your ’rounded’ figures on the Cons and the Greens.

    Given the above figures, the ones with which we are in agreement, how do you feel about 336,038 for the Lib Dems? How much leverage does that give the Lib Dem voter in Parliament?

    I’d like to see a mutually agreeable form of proportional representation and the best chance we had was just before Nick Clegg threw away his negotiating position Not that’s a problem for him as someone is now paying him his price.

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  27. Iain

    I’d already read the Guardian article, and yes the point is clear that our current electoral system is indeed heavily biased towards the established main parties, disadvantaging newer and smaller parties. The Scots Nats being the exception (probably linked to geographical concentration of their vote).

    The traditional argument for the FPTP system has always been that it generates stable governments with a clear majority, but after the chaos of the last 9 years I for one no longer subscribe to that argument.

    I expect we will get some voting reform under this administration, however I think it will just be to correct the longstanding imbalance between the sizes of constituencies (historically which has given an advantage to Labour but may not be the case with this set of results).

    I would be surprised if they look at the injustices in the franchise (16/17 year old adults, long term resident foreign nationals), the unelected second chamber or parliamentary representation for parties with large, dispersed vote (Brexit, Lib Dems, Greens, UKIP).

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  28. AndyM

    newcomer – The Guardian link you provided clearly shows that nationally the Lib Dems polled almost 3.7m votes – this equates to 11.6% of the vote and suggests under a fair proportional system they would receive 75 seats rather than the FPTP figure of 11 seats.
    The system offered to Nick Clegg was flawed and I’m not sure even he fully supported it.

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  29. newcomer

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50779901

    That’s the BBC site with the same data on it, though presented in a more sensible manner than the Guardian. I hope The Guardian never accuses the Beeb of being ‘sloppy’.

    Of course, the parties should be ranked according to their percentage of votes achieved, which is why I have no problem with your ‘fair proportional system’. Every vote should carry the same weight in Parliament.

    As it is (reference the table) the whinging Celtic Fringe do very well out of the current system, but can you imagine the anguished wails from the Scots and Welsh were we to go PR … ;0)

    As for Nick Clegg, he proved not up to HIS mandate in coalition when he didn’t insist on PR (negotiating light-weight). I have as much time for him as class-imposter David Miliband who’s a Charity Millionaire on £680K a year.

    I grew up in a mining village on the Durham coalfields (the land forgotten by politicians … Sedgefield constituency, Blair’s as it happens) in the 50’s so I’ve little trust for the Tories and I wouldn’t trust Boris out of ear-shot and eye-line.

    Palace of Westminster … The House of Hypocrites more like.

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  30. newcomer

    Iain,

    It’s always nice to welcome a ‘born again’ to the fold so it’s easy to forgive you for pulling me up on the one minor mistake I’ve made on this site ;0)

    Reply
  31. Hester

    I have had no trouble in resisting joining in this gentlemen’s wrangle up to now, but the reference to the “whinging (sic) Celtic fringe” stung me in to action! Scotland uses a form of PR for its own Parliamentary elections so it is hard to see how they could argue against it for Westminster.
    However any effective PR system has to be more sophisticated than just a straight national numbers count – some element of local representation is essential – and that is where the big variations in population density create complications.

    Reply
  32. Dino Marks

    What has Layla done so far? How many people really think she’s going to sort the diamond interchange? It’s embarrassing that so many people voted her back in. Or was this to simply save face with the neighbours?? Honestly. She has done nothing so far and will continue to do nothing for our town.

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  33. PPJS

    Do you seriously expect one MP belonging to a minority party will change the political landscape?

    There’s a need for some reality checking here. “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride…”

    Reply
  34. Dino Marks

    Daniel, I’m so impressed that she wrote a letter venting her frustration.

    Sorry, it’s 2019 not 1919. She is now a minority and has no power at all to get things done. Why couldn’t anybody see this in Abingdon? Why did so many people vote for someone they knew would have no impact in the long term.
    This just means that Abingdon and surrounding areas will be left to rot further for another 3 to 4 years.

    Shame on all of you who voted for her!!!!

    Reply

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