Bernard Jenkin remains the MP for Brightlingsea – but the July 4 election saw his majority much reduced.

The Conservative won the Harwich & North Essex constituency – a seat he’s held for 32 years – with 16,522 votes, 1,162 votes ahead of the Labour Party candidate, Alex Diner. The Reform candidate, Mark Cole, came third with 9,806 votes.

At the last election in 2019, Jenkin took nearly 32,000 votes, beating Labour into second by over 20,000 votes. Turnout was down compared with 2019 – 70.1% compared with 64.35% and the total number of votes cast was 48,043.

The general election saw a massive swing to Labour, with the party taking (at the time of writing) 412 seats, 210 up on 2019. The Conservatives lost 244 MPs, leaving them with 121 seats. The Liberal Democrats came third, gaining 60 seats to take their tally to 71.

The two constituencies either side of Harwich went to two different parties – both gains from the Conservatives. Labour won Colchester,  while Nigel Farage won Clacton for Reform.

Full results for Harwich & North Essex: 

Canessa, Andrew Lawrence (Green Party) 2,794
Cole, Mark (Reform UK) 9,806
Diner, Alex (Labour Party) 15,360
Jenkin, Bernard (Conservative Party Candidate) 16,522
Sommers, Natalie (Liberal Democrats) 3,561