Labour plays down hopes of stealing Kensington from Conservatives

Labour is playing down its chances of a spectacular victory in the constituency of Kensington .

The seat was won by the Conservative’s Lady Victoria Borwick in the 2015 General Election with a majority of 7,361 votes.

But a tweet by respected Huffington Post journalist Paul Waugh suggested a big upset, while incorrectly referring to the seat as Kensington and Chelsea.

He wrote: “Lab gain in Kensington & Chelsea now expected, source on ground says.

“That’s KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA, people.

“If only Portillo was still MP.”

But shortly after, a Labour source played down speculation that the party was on the brink of a spectacular success in Kensington, suggesting the vote share might be up but the seat was “probably not in play”.

Lady Borwick was elected for the first time two years ago, succeeding fellow Tory Sir Malcolm Rifkind , who stepped down after becoming embroiled in a conflict of interest scandal.

She is up against Labour’s Emma Dent Coad, a councillor in the Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea .

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!