The comments made by Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, on 5 July 2024.
Norwich, thank you for re-electing me.
Can I first thank the Returning officer and their crack team for the hard work they’ve done tonight on behalf of our democracy as well as all those that have staffed the polling stations across our city.
Can I also thank the police for their reassuring presence on election night and every night.
I’d also like to thank my fellow candidates. It’s been a slightly odd election with the focus for many often elsewhere – as is the nature of elections under first past the post.
I’d like to also thank my fantastic team – particularly Adam Green, Emma Hampton, Sarah Clarke and so many others in Norwich Labour Party who’ve become friends over the years as both MP and candidate for Norwich South.
I’d also like to give a special thanks to my agents Adam Giles and David Fullham. And finally, to my long-suffering family – Katy & Zana who have probably forgotten what I look like after 6 weeks of a general election.
After fighting four General elections I realise it is so important in politics to always try not to get carried away – especially in victory.
No matter how large your vote share is, how big your majority, or how historic your victory – you didn’t win the vote of everyone.
If government is to be good government it must be pluralistic – not one voice dominating – but many talking together and all being heard. You can’t rule as one faction or one section. To me, country before party means being willing to share power so that good may be done for the many, not the few.
With that in mind I want to say that I am well aware that many in this constituency voted for other candidates and other parties. And I want to make it clear that I will represent them too.
I will represent those who voted with the hope of ensuring that the rights of all people – *all* people – are respected: the right to protest; the right to live as one chooses; and the right to seek asylum. Human Rights are not an obstacle for government to overcome -but the bedrock on which it is built.
I will represent those who voted in hope of a government that stands firm against anyone trying to stop the action needed to avert the worst of human created climate change; for one which sees net zero as a challenge to be seized not something to hide from or wish away.
And I will represent those who voted in hopes of a government willing to address the economic inequality that scars our city and our country, to redistribute wealth and power from where there is plenty to where there is need.
Norwich – let’s get to it.
