Election 2017: Gavin Barwell voted out of Croydon constituency

Former housing minister Gavin Barwell was the construction world’s highest profile election-night casualty.

Barwell lost his Croydon Central constituency after seeing his vote slip by 0.6% to 24,221. He had been defending a knife edge majority of 137, which had been the smallest in the last House of Commons.

The 45-year old former Croydon councillor lost the seat to labour candidate Sarah Jones. The homelessness charity Shelter worker increased her vote by 9.7% to 29,873.

Croydon Central was one of Labour’s top target seats and the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn launched his general election campaign in the south London constituency, which Barwell first won for the Tories at the 2010 general election.

Barwell was appointed minister of state for housing and planning following the reshuffle carried out by Theresa May after she became prime minister last summer.

He was responsible for piloting the government’s using white paper in February, which outlined a series of moves to speed delivery of new homes.

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