Judith's 'surprise' after being elected as MEP
Lib Dem candidate speaks of shock after getting a seat
NEWBURY’S new Member of the European Parliament (MEP) has spoken of her surprise after being elected last Sunday.
Judith Bunting, who stood as the Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for Newbury in the 2015 and 2017 general elections, was voted in alongside colleagues Catherine Bearder and Anthony Hook for the South East of England.
Ms Bunting was third on the list of Lib Dem MEP candidates and with parties needing a large share of the vote to see their candidates elected, her chances looked slim.
Speaking to the NWN, Ms Bunting said: “It’s all a bit of a surprise.
“We knew it would be tight, but we didn’t believe it would happen until they put the numbers in front of us.”
Ms Bunting was among 16 Lib Dem MEPs elected.
She said there was a “good mix of people” who are completely new and full of ideas, and four or five experienced MEPs who know how the system works and have good ideas as well.
“We are there to stop Brexit and we will carry on campaigning,” she said.
In West Berkshire, The Brexit Party took a 34 per cent share of the vote, closely followed by the Lib Dems on 30 per cent.
The Greens came third with 12.9 per cent, narrowly beating the Conservatives, who received 12.8 per cent.
Change UK finished ahead of Labour with 4.2 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively, while UKIP took 1.9 per cent of the vote.
The results for West Berkshire, announced Newbury Racecourse on Sunday, were: Change UK – The Independent Group (1,948), Conservative and Unionist Party (5,974), Green Party (6,029), Labour Party (1,632), Liberal Democrats (13,981), The Brexit Party (15,830), The Socialist Party of Great Britain (59), UK European Union Party (118), UK Independence Party (883), Jason McMahon (54), David Round (37), Michael Turberville (30).
The turnout was 39.30 per cent, with 208 rejected ballots.
Speaking about the local vote, Ms Bunting said: “What matters here is an ideal, not a party. What matters here is the principal.
“West Berkshire voted 52/48 to remain.
“The fact that our MP has not represented us in that fashion is a disappointment.”
Nationally, The Brexit Party took 29 seats, with 32 per cent of the vote.
The Lib Dems increased their representation by 15 with a 20 per cent share.
The Green Party won seven seats, up four, on a 12 per cent vote share.
Labour’s 20 MEPs were halved with 14 per cent of the vote, while the Conservatives were reduced from 19 MEPs to four, with nine per cent of the vote.
The South East contributes 10 seats to the UK's 73 in the European Parliament.
The Brexit Party had four MEPs elected, with the Green Party, Conservatives and Labour taking the remaining seats.
Turn out in the South East was 39.36 per cent, an increase on 2014’s 35.4 per cent.
“I think the result reflects the problem,” Ms Bunting said.
“The Brexit Party won in party terms, but if you add up all Leave and Remain votes, and if you accept Labour can’t make their minds up and the Tories don’t know which way they are facing yet, Remain is slightly in the lead; but it’s almost half and half and that’s the problem.”
Ms Bunting said that she would be involved in campaigns relevant to local people, including a clean air campaign and renewable energy.
She added that she was committed to feeding information back locally and would work closely with West Berkshire Lib Dems.
Ms Bunting said that she was “worried about the UK breaking up, that’s one my key reasons for not wanting to leave”, adding “one of the things I also care about is the loss of research funding for skills training”.
She said that solutions to the Irish border were intractable and she was not confident that Scotland would vote to remain in the UK should a second referendum be held.
The UK’s seats are set to be vacated and reallocated following the new Brexit date of October 31, but Ms Bunting said this may not be set in stone.
She said: “Whoever takes over the Tory leadership, that contest probably won’t be finished until the end of June or early July, they will probably take a holiday and then want to negotiate these deals.
“Whether they will get us out by October... I’m not confident.
“It’s not a done deal.”