LABOUR’S Rupa Huq scored a major upset by narrowly winning the Ealing Central and Acton seat from former Conservative MP Angie Bray.
Only 274 votes separated the two candidates after a night of tension in both political camps.
EALING CENTRAL AND ACTON
Lab Gain
Rupa Huq (Lab) 22,002
Angie Bray (Con) 21,728
Jon Ball (Lib-Dem) 3,016
Peter Florence (UKIP) 1,926
Tom Sharman (Green) 1,841
Jonathan Notley (Independent) 125
Scott Dore (Workers Revolutionary) 73
Tammy Rendle (Above and Beyond) 54
Andrzej Rygielski (Europeans) 39
Lab majority: 274
Turn-out: 71.5%
The constituency was on Labour’s list of target marginal seats and it ran the campaign with the NHS at the heart of it. This may well have swung it for Labour.
Dr Huq, a sociology lecturer at Kingston University, promised to fight for Ealing Hospital’s A&E and maternity units, which are threatened with closure, despite the area having the third highest birth rate in London.
The older sister of former Blue Peter presenter Konnie, Dr Huq received unusual support from Independent rival candidate Jonathan Notley, who urged people to vote for her, instead of him, days before the election.
Party leader Ed Miliband and comedian Eddie Izzard joined her campaign trail.
Created in 2010, the seat of Ealing Central and Acton has been a tight three-way marginal, won in 2010 by Angie Bray with a majority of 3,716 votes.
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