Twickenham election results: Sir Vince Cable calls for Government to 'look again at Brexit' after Lib Dem win

Sir Vince Cable: The Lib Dem veteran won back his seat
Alex Lentati
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Sir Vince Cable avenged his shock defeat of two years ago by convincingly winning back the Twickenham seat he lost in 2015.

The Liberal Democrat former Business Secretary, one of the party’s best known national figures, ousted the Tory Tania Mathias who dramatically defeated him in the previous General Election.

The 74 year old won a bigger than expected 9762 majority on a large turnout of nearly 80 per cent. His total vote of 34,969 was his biggest since first winning the Twickenham seat in 1997.

He was immediately tipped as a possible replacement for Tim Farron as Lib Dem leader after a mixed night for the party.

Sir Vince said “a very strong anti-Government feeling” on issues such as schools and health as well as Brexit has contributed to his big win.

He also said there were “a lot of young people who felt cheated out of their future because of the Brexit vote and had used this election to make their point very forcefully.

“This means we will have to look at this again as Brexit is approached and the extreme- UKIP type of Brexit this government has put on the cards.”

He added: “I think that we all underestimated the force of the younger generation. They really turned out in massive numbers. Mr Corbyn to his credit understood that and tapped into it.”

General Election Night 2017 - In pictures

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He said the national results had highlighted the deep divisions in the country, adding “we are going to have to approach issues like Brexit in a far more consensual way.”

The accomplished ballroom dancer said that he would concentrate on constituency issues affecting his seat in south west London.

He added: “I was getting on with a different life. I’ve got a novel coming out in the autumn, I had lots of other different things I had taken on which I am now going to have to stop taking on.”

Tania Mathias said it had been “the honour of my life” to serve as Twickenham MP for the past two years and was “disappointed not to be continuing the work.” She paid tribute to Sir Vince saying it “takes a lot of courage to come back when you’ve been defeated.”

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