North Devon result in full...

THE Liberal Democrats have won an historic victory in North Devon by comfortably taking the seat in a fifth consecutive general election.

The party's candidate, 48-year-old Nick Harvey, was declared the winner of the constituency in the early hours of this morning with a total of 24,305 votes, giving him 47.3 per cent of the vote and a 5,821 majority.

Mr Harvey, who lives in Horwood, near Barnstaple, first won North Devon for the Lib Dems 18 years ago, in 1992, and he held the seat in 1997, 2001, and 2005. He was the odds-on bookmakers' favourite to win again this year. 

And, as in all those previous elections, the Conservatives were once again beaten into second place, this time polling their lowest number of votes for many years.

This year the Tory candidate, local businessman Philip Milton, was the runner-up with a total of 18,484 votes, a 35.9 per cent share of the vote.

Speaking after the general election result was declared to cheers from a crowd of party supporters at the North Devon Leisure Centre in Barnstaple at 3.20am, Mr Harvey, who is the Lib Dem defence spokesman, said: "I would like to thank the people of North Devon for putting their trust in me and asking me to serve as MP for another term. It's a great honour to do this job."

Mr Harvey thanked his campaign team, particularly local councillor Joe Tucker, but he warned that North Devon should be "apprehensive" about a possible Conservative victory in the national election.

Mr Milton said after the result was declared: "With the resources we had available we fought the very best campaign we could. It's clear from the result a bit of tactical voting took place and that's our problem."

And he said the Conservatives had "really worried" the Lib Dems in North Devon judging by the scale of the Lib Dem campaign effort locally.

UKIP were in third place with 3,720, their best ever placing in North Devon.

Labour's candidate Mark Cann was fourth with 2,671 votes. It was the first time in many years that Labour had not been in third place in North Devon.

All the other candidates polled well below 1,000 votes each.

The Green Party was fifth, the British National Party (BNP) sixth, independent candidate Rodney Cann seventh, the English Democrat Party eighth, and the Communist Party ninth.

There were nine candidates in North Devon, one of the longest lists ever locally.

The full results were:

Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat): 24,305

Philip Milton (Conservative): 18,484

Mark Cann (Labour): 2,671

Steve Crowther (UKIP): 3,720

Rodney Cann (Independent): 588

L'Anne Knight (Green Party): 697

Nigel Vidler (English Democrat Party): 146

Gary Marshall (British National Party): 614

Gerrard Sables (Communist Party): 96

All candidates paid a £500 deposit to stand and that is lost if the candidate polls fewer than 5% of the votes cast. Only the top four candidates retained their deposits.

There were 82 spoiled ballot papers.

There were 84,719 electors in North Devon for this year's general election and and the majority, 51,412, visited local polling booths which were open in the constituency between 7am and 10pm on Thursday. Turnout was 69% per cent.

About 14% of votes were cast by post, the highest number ever.

Mr Harvey won North Devon for the Lib Dems in 1992 (majority: 794, 1.36%), in 1997 (majority: 6,181, 11.28%), in 2001 (majority: 2,984, 6.1%), and in 2005 (majority: 4,972, 9.57%).

Mr Harveys’ total number of votes were 27,414 in 1992, 27,824 in 1997, 21,784 in 2001, and 23,840 in 2005.

The Conservative vote in North Devon was 26,620 in 1992, 21,643 in 1997, 18,800 in 2001, and 18,868 in 2005.

The Tory share of the vote in North Devon was 45.73% in 1992, 39.48% in 1997, 38.2% in 2001, and 36.33% in 2005.

For full general election coverage see next week's North Devon Journal.

The Torridge and West Devon election results will be counted and declared on Friday morning.

HOURS TO GO: Bookie's odds narrow...

MORE than 160,000 people in North Devon and Torridge will have the opportunity to change the course of history by voting in the general election tomorrow.

There are 84,719 electors in North Devon and 75,930 in Torridge and the majority will visit local polling booths which are open between 7am and 10pm on Thursday, May 6.

Voters who were newborn babes when John Major beat Neil Kinnock in 1992 will be able to vote for the first time, while the oldest voters will remember when Winston Churchill was prime minister.

About 14% of votes have already been cast by post, the highest number ever. And there are nine candidates in North Devon and six in Torridge (full list below), one of the longest lists ever locally.

In the past two months the bookmaker Ladbrokes has narrowed the odds between the two favourite candidates in each constituency.

In February, Ladbrokes had North Devon’s Lib Dem candidate Nick Harvey as the clear favourite to win on 4/6 and his main rival, the Conservative Philip Milton, on 11/10.

Those odds would have meant a £67 payout on a £100 bet on Mr Harvey winning and £110 on Mr Milton winning, meaning Mr Harvey was more the more probable winner.

Now Ladbrokes has Mr Harvey on 1/4, which would net a payout of £25 on a £100 stake and Mr Milton on 5/2, which would bring a £250 win.

The change in odds mean Ladbrokes believes Mr Harvey has become more likely to win.

The Torridge Lib Dem candidate, Adam Symons, has also seen his odds of winning improve in recent weeks.

In February, Ladbrokes had Mr Symons on 7/1 which would have meant a £700 payout on a £100 bet if he won. Conservative candidate Geoffrey Cox was at 1/20, meaning a £100 bet would have netted just £5.

But now Mr Cox has slipped down to 2/7, meaning he is still the favourite but his win would now result in a £29 return on £100.

And Mr Symons is now on 5/2, meaning a £100 bet on him to win would result in a £250 payout if he won.

The change in the odds means the bookmaker believes Mr Symons now has a better chance of winning than he did in February.

All the other parties have remained at 100/1 to win; if you put a £100 bet on any of them, and they won, you would get £10,000.

The North Devon candidates are, in alphabetical order:
Mark Cann (Labour)
Rodney Cann (Independent)
Stephen Crowther (United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP)
Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat)
L’Anne Knight (Green Party)
Gary Marshall (British National Party, BNP)
Philip Milton (Conservative)
Gerrard Sables (Communist Party of Britain)
Nigel Vidler (English Democrats)

The Torridge and West Devon candidates are, in alphabetical order:
Nick Baker (British National Party, BNP)
Geoffrey Cox (Conservative)
Darren Jones (Labour)
Robin Julian (United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP)
Cathrine Simmons (Green Party)
Adam Symons (Liberal Democrat)

• You do not need your polling card to vote; you can just turn up at the polling station.
• The count in North Devon starts as soon as the ballot boxes start arriving after 10pm and a result is expected at around 3.30am.
• Torridge will start counting on Friday morning and a result is expected late morning.
• The Journal will be at the counts and will publish the results and reactions when we get them on our website at www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk and in next week's paper.

UPDATE: Anti-BNP message from Labour...

The British National Party has come under fire from Labour general election candidates.

Darren Jones, who is standing for Labour in Torridge and West Devon, told me: “There’s a fine line between the views of these people and the parallels between the rise of Nazi Germany and I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but it’s true.

“Britain has a proud tradition of being welcoming to diverse populations.”

And Mark Cann, Labour’s candidate in North Devon, said: “Classically, extremist parties have sought to prosper at times of great economic uncertainty, often peddling simplistic and racist views about how we can solve our problems, which I totally reject.

“The Labour Party role is to counter that and to talk to the people who are those on whom the BNP campaign, often the white working class.

"Labour is still the party that represents the ordinary person in this country and don’t be misled.”

Gary Marshall, the BNP general election candidate for North Devon, admitted his party had a racist history but he claimed it had changed and he denied he was a racist or a fascist.

He said: “To say I’m a Nazi, that I support Nazi ideology, or anything stupid like that, I find incredibly offensive.”

The BNP, which believes there is an “indigenous” white British race, has called for a “British resistance” and claims there has been an “overwhelming extinguishing of Britain and British identity under a tsunami of immigration”.

The BNP also believes in corporal punishment, the death penalty, chain gangs, paying immigrants to go back to their country of origin, withdrawing from the EU, and stopping all foreign aid.

UPDATE: Tory candidate attacks abortion and sex education...

The Conservative general election candidate for North Devon told me the number of abortions in the UK “is a reflection of the gross deterioration in our society generally”.

Asked how his Christian faith, which he has highlighted during campaigning, will influence his politics, businessman Philip Milton attacked sex education in schools and abortion.

He said: “I shall be pleased to vote for a reduction in the number of weeks in abortion cases, based on the evidence, likely to be 20 weeks.

“However, my biggest principle will be to hope we can reduce the number of abortions, that is the bigger fear to our country, and of course it is a reflection of the gross deterioration in our society generally.

“There are now 174 pregnancies to teenage mothers every day. We have the worst record for teenage pregnancies in Europe. We have one of the worst records for relationship breakdown in Europe.”

He said a Conservative Government would employ 4,000 extra health visitors in the UK and recognise marriage and civil partnerships as a stable base for society.

He added: “I am against the rolling-out of sex education to children at an ever-younger age and despite the clear evidence of even more problems as a result of more sexual activity liberal policy says instead that we must tell children more about it and not less; have they lost the plot?”

He said his faith also drove him towards care for the weakest in society and he had been part of the “visionary leadership team” at Croyde Baptist Church, which he joined as a teenager.

UPDATE: Quote quiz!

For light relief, can you match the following quotes to the right local candidate?

Here are the potentials: Mark Cann (Labour) Rodney Cann (Independent) Stephen Crowther (United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP) Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat) L’Anne Knight (Green Party) Gary Marshall (British National Party, BNP) Philip Milton (Conservative) Gerrard Sables (Communist Party of Britain) Nigel Vidler (English Democrats) Geoffrey Cox (Conservative) Darren Jones (Labour) Robin Julian (United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP) Cathrine Simmons (Green Party) Adam Symons (Liberal Democrat).

Answers below.

1. “You’re in a British country. If you insist you want to wear a Burka then I suggest if you’re not happy here, go home.”

2. “I would like to see our politics be a bit more bold and more radical. The public are not stupid. I hope in our manifesto we are in difficult times but are offering a vision of the future that does reflect the values of our party and it’s relevant to the vast majority of people in this country today.”

3. “If standing up for the people of England means that I am a Little Englander then so be it.”

4. “Under the form of dilute socialism you have had for the last 13 years in which everything has been centrally controlled, in which means- tested benefits have been seen as the solution to everything, you have not increased your social mobility, you have not achieved any better gains since in 1997.”

5. “The nearest thing we have now to the Blair style and the Blair machine is David Cameron. He’s fashioned himself on the Blair rise in 1997, although he’s a diet version of it, not quite as good as the full fat Tony Blair.”

6. “However, our overall principle is it’s better to have people elected than appointed. The driving force for us is the realisation that professional government is overtaking amateur government in this country.”

7. “What is it that the Conservatives are offering to change? To my mind the Conservatives simply offer more of the same; they are saying they can operate the same system Labour operate but we’re invited to believe they can operate it more efficiently.”

8. “To say I’m a Nazi, that I support Nazi ideology, or anything stupid like that, I find incredibly offensive.”

9. “I’ve got higher level qualifications than Vince Cable for example and more experience as well.”

10. “George Osborne said at the beginning of the recession “we’re going to cut lots of money”; I despair with the idea he could be chancellor because he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.”

11. “We want to up the pension level to £170 for single people and £300 for couples.”

12. “We believe in a planned economy which means public ownership and every Journal reader would agree the water prices are too high here since privatisation. Electricity and gas: they’ve really ripped us off.”

13. “ I feel people like myself could well be at a premium in the parliament and hold the balance of power.”

14. “We are a single issue party but not the issue perceived by the general populace.”


Answers:

1 Robin Julian, 2 Mark Cann, 3 Nigel Vidler, 4 Geoffrey Cox, 5 Darren Jones, 6 Steve Crowther, 7 Nick Harvey, 8 Gary Marshall, 9 Philip Milton, 10 Adam Symons, 11 Cathrine Simmons, 12 Gerrard Sables, 13 Rodney Cann, 14 L’Anne Knight.

UPDATE: Labour candidate defends Labour on economy...

The Labour general election candidate for North Devon has defended the Government’s record on the economy.

Mark Cann, speaking to the Journal, said: “I think we have got it right. One can look back and say: where did we go wrong? The recession is a product of a worldwide crisis and not just a domestic one.

“I think to talk about ‘Gordon Brown’s deficit’ is over-simplifying a much more complex of factors.

“What Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have managed to achieve over the last 18 months is pretty remarkable when you think of the dire warnings about the levels of unemployment and depths of recession we were going to be facing.

“I’m in favour of the transaction tax, the Robin Hood tax. I know the Government is talking about international agreement on that. I think we need to manage our financial sector better.

“Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, but I think we all ran away with ourselves a little bit and I think we have to do more to control that. In terms of borrowing, I think it had to be done and the proof will be we will come out of this recession with greater strength.”

His Tory election rival, Philip Milton, said: “I don’t think the Lib Dems and Labour are prepared to acknowledge there is a very significant problem. The Conservatives have said there is a humongous problem here.

“We are talking about a level of debt which the man in the street doesn’t comprehend and doesn’t appreciate how big it is because it hasn’t really affected most people.

“If they’ve got a mortgage they’re actually paying the lowest mortgage rates they’ve ever paid. One out of four jobs are state jobs so they’re doing extremely nicely.”

The Lib Dem candidate, Nick Harvey, said: “I think we have enjoyed economic good years until two or three years ago and the Labour government deserves some credit for that.

“They also deserve some of the blame for the situation we are in now, but that is more down to international issues.

“We would make the high street banks who take ordinary deposits separate from the banks who speculate with money on the sort of international money markets.

“We would keep the state guarantee behind the high street banks so people knew their deposits were safe.”

UPDATE: UKIP man attacks Muslim head wear

THE UKIP general election candidate for Torridge and West Devon says multiculturalism is unacceptable and women who insist on wearing Muslim head coverings should consider “going home”.

Robin Julian, a former soldier and police officer, made the comments during an exclusive interview with the Journal.

Speaking about UKIP’s call for a ban on women wearing Islamic head coverings in public buildings and some private buildings, Mr Julian said: “This Government is the only one which has created the terrorism in this country by the sheer influx of people coming in here.

“You’ve seen where suicidal people are all covered up and you don’t know if it’s a male or a female. You could be robbed. You could be mugged. You can’t identify anybody.

“You’re in a British country. We don’t have things like that. If you insist you want to wear a burka then I suggest if you’re not happy here, go home.

“We’ve got foreign criminal gangs here that are on drugs, it’s a different culture, and are exploiting the youngsters as sex slaves. It might be fine in their country but it is not British culture. It’s got to be stamped on with a giant foot.”

Asked about multiculturalism he said: “Multiculturalism is where everybody is coming here, speaks their own language and doesn’t recognise the British system and the way of life.

“We can’t have people preaching against the British; they should be expelled straight away. If you come here, you should blend in with the British people.

“It’s important if you want to be here then you follow the Christian way of life and the way we live. If you don’t like it, nobody’s saying you must stay. You can always go.”

Asked to comment on UKIP’s multiculturalism and burka policies, the North Devon UKIP candidate, Stephen Crowther, said: “We are not in any respect interested in this idea of ‘indigenous Anglo-Saxons’; let’s face it, the Anglo-Saxons aren’t indigenous anyway. We’re interested in people sharing a culture of Britishness rather than being ghettoised and set against each other.”

On the burka ban idea, he said: “It’s not controversial if you cross out the word ‘burka’ and put ‘crash helmet’. That’s all we’re saying.”

Does he want to be an MP or the messiah?

The MP expenses scandal, Europe and bovine TB were among topics debated at a lively hustings sponsored by the Journal.

The Question Time-style event at Petroc on Monday last week drew more than 75 people of all ages, including a number of party supporters, to hear five North Devon candidates outline policies.

The BNP candidate, Gary Marshall, gave out campaign leaflets on the road outside. corr The Communist candidate, Gerrard Sables, distributed anti-BNP leaflets nearby.

Five would-be MPs took questions: L’Anne Knight (Green); Mark Cann (Lab); Nick Harvey (Lib Dem); Steve Crowther (UKIP); Philip Milton (Cons).
There was agreement among candidates that parliament needed to be “cleaned up” after the expenses scandal.

Mr Harvey said “MPs collectively for the past 40 years” were responsible for the corruption which was symptomatic of wider political problems.

Mr Crowther attacked “professional politicians” and Mrs Knight said individual MPs must shoulder the blame.

Thom Walker from Burrington asked if candidates could foresee a time when the UK was independent from the EU. Mrs Knight said the EU was a “beacon of good practice in many respects” and Mr Cann said: “I don’t think we can turn the clock back and I wouldn’t want to” and “I think we get good value for the contributions we make”.

Mr Milton did not believe in leaving the EU but he attacked EU regulations while the UKIP candidate called for withdrawal. Mr Harvey criticised the “Little Englander” mentality of those who wanted to leave the EU and drew loud applause when he said the “right-wing media” fed people a “diet of drivel” about Europe.

Mr Milton was met with groans when he said Lord Ashcroft didn’t need to put any money into the North Devon campaign because Mr Milton was “going to win anyway”.

And Mr Harvey launched a fierce attack on party funding , saying the “spectre” of what Lord Ashcroft did was “utterly repugnant”.

Speaking about local farming, Mrs Knight said food shortages could be reduced by producing more local sustainable produce.

After listening to what Mr Milton listed as the main problems facing North Devon, including education funding, Mr Harvey questioned whether the Tory candidate knew what an MP did, adding: “Does he understand it’s to be one of 651 MPs or does he think it’s to be the messiah?”

Mr Harvey said many local problems were the legacy of the neglect of the previous Conservative government.

There was concern among the candidates that people in Barnstaple and South Molton were not given control over plans for new Tesco supermarkets.

Mr Harvey said district councils were “no match” for Tesco’s teams of slick lawyers and Mr Crowther said the fact North Devon Conservative councillors claimed they had “no choice” but to approve a Tesco Extra plan was “absurd”.

Mr Milton and Mr Harvey both supported scientific research and appropriate badger culls to tackle bovine TB. Mr Milton said: “This is like the illegal immigrants really; tell me where all the badgers are, where the diseased badgers are. There are so many simple and practical problems we have to tackle.” There were also questions about climate change, immigration and the economy.