Conservative Kemi Badenoch has narrowly held on to her North West Essex seat (formerly Saffron Walden) after seeing her 27,594 majority slashed to just 2,610. The results are in stark contrast to the 2019 election which saw her poll 39,714 – up 2,628 from when she was first elected back in 2017 with 24,996 votes to become the first woman to represent the constituency, which has been Tory-held since 1922. But this time, Labour’s Issy Waite, a 21-year-old student activist from Suffolk, was hot on her heels polling 16,750 votes. Grant StClair-Armstrong, standing as an Independent, but still on th…
