By SWL Reporters
December 9 2019, 23.00
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Felicity Buchan is well placed to put England’s most marginal seat back in the Conservative column, according to a new poll.
Labour’s Emma Dent Coad won Kensington by just 20 votes in 2017 and the constituency is turning into one of the capital’s most bad-tempered battles.
Former Tory leadership hopeful Sam Gyimah – who switched to the Liberal Democrats in the summer – has seen his vote collapse in the last month according to research by Delta Poll UK.
And, in what was previously viewed as a rare three-way marginal, Ms Buchan is pulling ahead.
Two years ago it took three counts before the result was announced, nearly 24 hours after polls closed.
But the latest polls show this time may not be as close with Ms Buchan up three points to 39 percent, while Ms Dent Coad is on 29 percent and Mr Gymiah on 27 percent.
Kensington voted 68.8% to remain in Europe and despite Ms Buchan being a committed Brexiteer, it seems Labour and Liberal Democrats have split the pro-Europe vote.
“Clearly we did not have a good campaign in 2017,” said Ms Buchan, who is clearly unimpressed by the effort made by former deputy London mayor Victoria Borwick.
“To be very frank I think we were complacent in Kensington. We sent off our activists to other places. We are not going to do that this time.
“The Lib Dems are making a lot of noise. They have sent out a ridiculous amount of literature. It feels very, very tight. Every vote is going to count. This is going to go down to the wire.”
