Election 97

Lewes


Result 97 gain
from Conservative
Current MP 97 Tim Rathbone
Majority 0 ( 0.0%)
Conservative 97 19,950 (40.6%)
Labour 97 5,232 (10.6%)
LibDem 97 21,250 (43.2%)
Nationalist 97 0 ( 0.0%)
Other 97 2,737 ( 5.6%)
Elected party 97
Electorate 97 64,340
Turnout 97 49,169 (76.4%)



1992 MP Tim Rathbone
Old constituency name Lewes
Majority 92 6,337 (12.2%)
Conservative 92 26,638 (51.3%)
Labour 92 4,270 ( 8.2%)
LibDem 92 20,301 (39.1%)
Nationalist 92 0 ( 0.0%)
Other 92 677 ( 1.3%)
Elected party 92 Conservative
Electorate 92 63,412
Turnout 92 51,886 (81.8%)
Lewes



Tory change -10.8%
Labour change +2.4%
Lib Dem change +4.1%
Nationalist change +0.0%
Other change +4.3%
Electorate change +1.5%
Turnout Change -5.4%
Robert Waller wrote

Once one of the Tory bastions in this deep southern county, some pundits are now suggesting that they might even be in some danger in the seat based on the county town of East Sussex.

At the 1992 election, Tim Rathbone held a comfortable 12,000 lead for the Tories over their main challengers, the Liberal Democrats. However calculations suggest that the majority would have been only about half of that figure on the new boundaries. Some 16,000 very Conservative voters from the bungaloid coast around Saltdean and Peacehaven have been transferred to Brighton Kemptown, while in return an area just outside Eastbourne has been annexed, as the centre of gravity of the Lewes seat moves to the east; and to the Liberal Democrats, for these Polegate wards seem to have been affected by the Liberalism that led to their by-election victory in Eastbourne in 1990.

However, such notional characteristics are by nature imperfect, and Lewes should be seen only as very much an outside bet for a Lib Dem gain, here in the affluent heart of east Sussex.


Super Profiles

4,344 12.07 9.03 134
9,721 27.01 11.17 242
1,799 5.00 11.25 44
4,084 11.35 14.70 77
1,297 3.60 10.45 34
1,050 2.92 2.81 104
7,761 21.56 8.01 269
4,097 11.38 15.25 75
326 0.91 7.13 13
1,081 3.00 10.17 30