Shailesh Vara's speech after defeat

Peterborough Telegraph

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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.

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