Newark is a safe Conservative seat in Nottinghamshire, with a majority of 18,149 in 2017 for Robert Jenrick.
Conservatives have held the seat since 2001, apart from a brief stint in 2014 when previously Conservative MP Patrick Mercer turned Independent after being caught by BBC’s Panorama in a ‘cash for questions’ scandal and resigned the party.
This resulted in a by-election which saw Jenrick taking a 7,403 majority for the Conservatives over UKIP’s Roger Helmer, who came second.
In the two elections since 2014, Jenrick has grown his majority and is seen by many as a rising star in his party; currently sitting in the cabinet as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
In the 2017 EU referendum Newark and Sherwood voted to leave by 60.4% to 39.6% remain.
The candidates standing for the seat this time are: Robert Jenrick for the Conservatives, David Watts, for the Liberal Democrats, James Baggaley, for Labour, Jay Henderson, for the Green Party. The Brexit Party decided not to field a candidate in order to support the Conservative vote in the area under a national pact between the two pro-Brexit parties.
With Newark voters having taken to the polls four times in the past decade, there’s no doubt that they will be well experienced voters this time round.
