Tactical voting removed Tories from Witney, says candidate

Lib Dem candidate Charlie Maynard unseated the Tories with 20,832 votes to Robert Courts' 16,493.

Andrew Prosser, the Green Party candidate, said: "There’s been a lot of tactical voting. 

"I think a good result is a change in our MP so I do welcome that and I think that’s what  a lot of people have voted for – change.

"They want something new and it looks like it’s going to go that way."

He added that he hoped that the new Green MPs would pressure Labour "to move more quickly" on climate policies which "Labour hasn’t committed enough to".

READ MORE: Lib Dems triumph across Oxfordshire in General Election

Richard Langridge, who came third for Reform UK, said: "It’s been an incredible campaign. Everyone’s been fantastic, much more support than I thought I was going to get.

"A huge response from Witney, it’s been brilliant and really bodes well for the future. Support has come from across the board."

The election count when it was in full swing (Image: Contributed)

Despite long queues at polling stations the turnout followed the national trend of being lower than in the 2019 general election at 67.25 per cent against 73.6 per cent when Mr Courts beat the Liberal Democrats by 15,177 votes.

All Labour's candidates, including Antonio Weiss, the Witney candidate, had been advised not to speak to the press before the declaration.

They were told the media "will want an early steer of how the count is unfolding but we do not give this to them before we have concrete information".

Mr Courts, who has held the Witney seat since 2016, refused interviews and left the count immediately after the results were announced.

Here are the results in full:

Charlie Maynard, Liberal Democrat, 20,832

Robert Courts, Conservative, 16,493

Richard Langridge, Reform UK, 6,307

Antonio Weiss, Labour, 4,773

Andrew Prosser, Green Party, 1,661

Barry Ingleton, Independent, 350

David Cox, Heritage Party - Free Speech and Liberty, 168