Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00May I start off by congratulating Sam Carlin on his victory this evening, or rather, this
00:11morning.
00:12Ladies and gentlemen, the central feature of democracy is that the pendulum of power
00:19swings at regular intervals, and it has certainly swung today in a huge way.
00:30I congratulate Saqir Salman and the Labour government on this massive victory which will
00:39go down in history.
00:41And I wish Saqir and his government well as they govern Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
00:50Any party that is in government has difficulties, and it is not easy to govern this great country
00:59of ours with all the issues and problems that there are and that will arise for any government
01:06that is in power.
01:08So I genuinely wish Saqir, as the new Prime Minister, well, as he seeks to do good for
01:17the citizens of the United Kingdom.
01:22The Conservative Party will, of course, have to reflect very carefully as to why it has
01:37faced this defeat in this manner.
01:42That is a debate and discussion for another day.
01:48But I will say this, that when that discussion takes place, I hope that those involved in
01:57that discussion reflect very carefully as to whether the Conservative Party should fight
02:08amongst itself and therefore be in opposition.
02:14And if they continue to fight amongst themselves, the opposition benches will welcome them for
02:22a very long time.
02:24Or does the Conservative Party unite?
02:32And in so doing, it takes the fight to the opposition.
02:38And if that is the case, then the Conservative Party will be back in business with a chance
02:48of being in government again.
02:50And I would urge my Conservative colleagues to think well and hard as to where they wish
03:00to be in the years to come.
03:04Because in resolving that issue, whether they fight amongst themselves or fight the opposition,
03:11they will find the answer of whether they want the comfort of the opposition benches
03:17or the responsibility to serve the nation on the government benches.
03:25But that debate and that discussion, as I said earlier, is for another day.
03:33I wish to thank all the people of North West Cambridgeshire who have given me the privilege
03:41and honour of serving them, both locally and nationally, for nearly 20 years.
03:51No person can ask for a greater privilege or honour than to be elected by their peers
04:01to serve them in Parliament.
04:04And I have enjoyed all my time as their Member of Parliament.
04:12I would also like to say a huge thank you to my campaign team who have worked so hard
04:21throughout this campaign, and indeed before.
04:27My thanks also to Matt Gadsden, the returning officer, to all his staff who had to go through
04:37a full recount.
04:39And for that, I'm grateful and I thank them.
04:43And finally, I thank the police service for doing a fantastic job, as they always do,
04:52in making sure that the wheels of democracy function smoothly.
04:57So thank you as well.
05:00And I wish everyone a good morning.
05:02Thank you.
05:09Thank you.