Eastbourne Nigel Waterson 22,183 6,576 20,189 0 995 Eastbourne 30,548 2,697 23,739 0 643 Conservative Eastbourne, a resort town in East Sussex, is one of those constituencies, which on all objective criteria should be a safe Conservative seat, but where the Liberal Democrats are strong in local government and therefore keep the Tory incumbent on his toes. The Lib Dems did actually win the seat in a by-election in 1990, but as with almost every such mid-term by-election loss, the Conservatives bounced back to re-assert their natural hegemony at the subsequent general election. Comfortable and genteel, with a very elderly electorate, Eastbourne would signal disaster for the Tories, in the unlikely event that it were ever to fall to the Liberal Democrats at a general election.

	735	1.65	9.03	18
	6,930	15.55	11.17	139
	3,440	7.72	11.25	69
	3,468	7.78	14.70	53
	2,028	4.55	10.45	44
	0	0.00	2.81	0
	16,979	38.10	8.01	476
	8,195	18.39	15.25	121
	1,302	2.92	7.13	41
	390	0.88	10.17	9