By, Marcus Dysch
1 min read
ByMarcus Dysch, Marcus Dysch
Luciana Berger has won an impressive victory for Labour in the Liverpool Wavertree constituency.
Despite upsetting some voters who believed she had been “parachuted” into the safe seat, the former Labour Friends of Israel director received 20,132 votes.
That was more than half of all votes polled in the seat and represented a five per cent swing from the Liberal Democrats to Labour.
Ms Berger increased the party’s majority by more than 2,000, picking up more votes than outgoing Labour MP Jane Kennedy did in 2005.
Ms Berger admitted she was “surprised” by the scale of her victory and said she was “humbled by the honour of representing the constituency”.
She had been heavily supported during the campaign by NUS president Wes Streeting and leading members of the Union of Jewish Students.
Support had also come from the parents of once-jailed football fan Michael Shields. They urged people to vote for Ms Berger after a Lib Dem leaflet carrying their son's picture was distributed - they claimed - without permission.
Colin Eldridge was second for the Lib Dems with 12,965 votes. Conservative Andrew Garnett was third with 2,830.
All the results from the key constituencies on our Election 2010 page