General Election 2017: Diane Abbott and Meg Hillier re-elected as Hackney MPs with increased majorities
Re-elected: Diane Abbott
The Labour party’s candidates Diane Abbott and Meg Hiller have been re-elected as Members of Parliament for Hackney with huge and increased majorities.
Despite suffering a turbulent time with media interviews and illness during the campaign, Diane Abbott was re-elected as the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, with 42,265 votes – 75 per cent of the vote.
Abbott won 42,265 votes this time round, an increase of 10,908 compared to the 31,357 votes she won in General Election of two years ago (7 May 2015).
Commenting on her re-election, Ms Abbott tweeted: “Humbled to receive an increased majority of over 35,000 in Hackney North & Stoke Newington. A vote for hope and a better Britain.”
Humbled to receive an increased majority of over 35,000 in Hackney North & Stoke Newington.
A vote for hope and a better Britain.#GE2017— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 9, 2017
Amy Gray for the Conservative party was Abbott’s closest contender, with 7,126 votes (13 per cent).
Re-elected: Meg Hillier. Photograph: Hackney Council
Meanwhile Meg Hillier was re-elected as MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch with 43,974 votes – 79 per cent of the vote.
Luke Parker, the Conservative party candidate came a distant second against Hillier, winning 6,043 votes (11 per cent).
Analysis: vote share and voter turnout
Diane Abbott won 31,357 votes in the General Election of 2015 and 42,265 votes this time round..
This is an increase of 34.7 per cent in the absolute number of of votes won.
Her vote share rose from 62.9 per cent to 75.1 per cent, a rise of 12.2 percentage points, or 19.4 per cent of her 2015 vote share.
Meg Hillier won 30,663 votes in 2015 and 43,974 votes in 2017, an increase of 43.4 per cent in the absolute number of of votes won.
Her vote share rose from 64.4 per cent to 79.4 per cent, an increase of 10 percentage points, or 15.5 per cent of her 2015 vote share.
Meg Hillier’s vote share increased by 27 per cent more than Diane Abbott’s – 15. per cent up versus 12.2 per cent up.
The large change in the number of the absolute votes won by these candidates is partly due to the increase in turnout in Hackney.
In the Hackney North, Diane Abbott’s constituency, it rose from 56.8 per cent (2105) to 67.1 per cent.
In Hackney South it rose from 56.3 per cent to 67.6 per cent .
The national turnout figure in 2017 was 68.7 per cent, placing Hackney just below the UK average.
In 2015, turnout in the country as a whole was 66.1 per cent, with Hackney lagging by 10 percentage points.
Hackney thus witnessed far greater voter mobilisation this time round than other parts of the UK.
Given Hackney’s relatively young demographic make-up, this presumably reflects the increase in voting by young people noted by pollsters.