And commiserations to Claire Wright.
Simon (Conservative) and Claire (Independent) were the two candidates who took by far the bulk of the votes in East Devon on 32,577 and 25,869 respectively; the next highest vote went to Dan Wilson (Labour) with 2,870, then Eleanor Rylance (Liberal Democrats) with 1,771. Peter Faithfull (Independent) and Henry Gent (Green) both fell below the 1,000 vote mark.
We now look forward to the bitter divisions of recent times fading into the past and everyone coming together to make sure that our new MP is always aware of what the people of East Devon find of importance. We need to give him support so that he can represent our views in Parliament and not be seduced by the Westminster bubble.