By Willis Bennett
December 13 2019, 06.00
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Fleur Anderson joked that she would now be able to get to know her family again after a year of intense campaigning – before promising to give Boris Johnson a tough time in the House of Commons next week.
Mrs Anderson claimed Labour’s first win in Putney since 2001 – a result indicated in 2017 when the vote swung 10.8% towards the party – and earned them their only ‘gain’ of the 2019 General Election with a majority of 4,774.
Putney voted 72.24% Remain in the EU Referendum and for the Conservatives’ Justine Greening in the 2017 General Election – where the former Secretary of State for Education edged out Labour by 1,554 votes.
Mrs Anderson joked: “I would like to thank my husband and children for their support – I will be able to find out what they’ve been doing for the last year now.”
She added: “This is a bright light in a dark night.
“Even in the rain, the positivity during campaigning and optimism about the future was incredible.
“This has been a people-powered campaign. We made an amazing team.
“Doctors and nurses, teachers and charity workers and parents; everybody had a story to tell and I loved meeting everyone.”
Conservative candidate Will Sweet earned 18,006 votes, the Liberal Democrat’s Sue Wixley received 8,548 and 1,113 voted for Green Party candidate Fergal McEntee.
Despite Labour’s emphatic loss nationally, Mrs Anderson celebrated her success at Wandsworth Civic Centre alongside fellow successful Labour MPs Marsha de Cordova of Battersea and Dr Rosena Allin-Khan of Tooting.
Mrs Anderson said: “I haven’t been following the results nationally, I’ve been focussing on my win here. And they have voted so convincingly for Labour.
“But the exit polls were depressing.
“We were knocking on doors until 10pm on the evening of the election; it has been the most full-on campaign.
“The Labour Party must not stop in our efforts to block Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit.
“We could now be facing five more years of austerity and that is heart-breaking for all those who supported us and voted for Labour.
“Five more years of a disaster for our NHS, schools, police and planet.”
Mrs Anderson drew attention to the vast number of people dependent upon the increasing number of food banks nationally.
She said: “With our national government it is going to be very, very hard to reduce dependency on food banks. It’s those very policies driving people to the food banks.
“Lack of mental health services, universal credit – which is something I’ve campaigned against very strongly – and other benefit problems will now not be tackled.
“Boris Johnson is going to have a tough time when I’m there next week on the benches.
“But I look forward to being a strong voice in Westminster for people in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields. For every single person.”
Donald Roy, Labour’s campaign coordinator for Putney, said: “This is my 13th general election and this has been the strongest Labour campaign I’ve seen here.
“There have been a record number of volunteers out on the streets.”
