Conservative Shailesh Vara retains North West Cambridgeshire seat at General Election

Conservative Shailesh Vara has retained his seat in North West Cambridgeshire.
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The former minister comfortably held onto one of the safest seats in the country after defeating his three opponents.

Mr Vara has held the constituency since 2005. A Remain supporter during the 2016 EU Referendum, he has been a prominent Leave campaigner in recent years and quit as Northern Ireland minister in opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

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During this year’s Conservative leadership campaign he supported Dominic Raab before switching to Boris Johnson after Mr Raab was knocked out.

Shailesh Vara (left) with new MP for Peterborough Paul BristowShailesh Vara (left) with new MP for Peterborough Paul Bristow
Shailesh Vara (left) with new MP for Peterborough Paul Bristow

Mr Vara was defending a majority of more than 18,000 which he managed to increase to a whopping 25,983 votes.

The election campaign was noticeable for Labour deselecting its candidate Ed Murphy shortly before the nominations deadline and replacing him with Great Yarmouth borough councillor Cathy Cordiner-Achenbach, who came second.

The Liberal Democrats were third, followed by the Green Party.

Result:

Shailesh Vara (Conservative) - 40,307

Cathy Cordiner-Achenbach (Labour Party) - 14,324

Bridget Smith (Liberal Democrat) - 6,881

Nicola Day (Green Party) - 3,021

Turnout: 68.32%