Amidst the promising exit poll predictions for the Tories, their North Dorset candidate, Simon Hoare is confident that they will hold the seat.
“I think we are seeing a very good exit poll if it is to be believed nationally. We’ve just seen our first Conservative hold in Swindon North with the majority going up there from seven thousand to eleven thousand. And looking at the ballot papers here as they’re going through the validation process our vote is holding.”
He added: “I think we’re confident to say this will be a Conservative hold also when we come to have the declaration of poll, hopefully in a few hours time.”
Hoare has only had chance to engage in a short campaign, being selected to take over from former Conservative candidate Robert Walter. But despite this only having a quick campaign trail, he remains optimistic about the Conservatives securing a majority in this constituency.
“It was a challenge because he announced his retirement quite late in the day just before Christmas, so I was only selected at the end of January.
“So really it was foot to the floor front he end of January through to today getting round the constituency, meeting people, talking to people, building relationships, so it’s been fascinating and very intense at the same time.”
With the results to be released in just a few hours, and regardless of his short campaign, Hoare is hopeful that the Conservatives can repeat their success of 1992, and prevail over their main rivals of the Labour party.
[…] Our correspondent Magdalena Balenovic spoke to Simon Hoare earlier. […]