Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan ‘could be unseated’ by student vote
Equalities minister Nicky Morgan is under threat of losing her seat at the General Election, according to a report.
The Education Secretary – who was appointed Minister for Women and Equalities in a reshuffle earlier this year – was highlighted by the Higher Education Policy Institute as one of the 12 coalition MPs at risk in their own constituencies.
She was elected as the MP for Loughborough in 2010, with 21,971 votes – unseating Labour MP Andy Reed, who had 18,227 votes.
However, the Institute says a backlash against the government’s tuition fees policy could see the seat swing back towards Labour.
The Institute said: “Under uniform national change with current polls, seats the Conservatives won with a margin of less than 10 percentage points over Labour would be (re)gained by Labour.
“If the Conservatives do make a recovery in the polls between now and the election, the six most marginal Conservative-Labour student constituencies [including Loughborough] might well fall to Labour because of the student vote even if Labour do not generally make gains from the Tories.”
Also on the list of vulnerable MPs are gay Tory MP Eric Ollerenshaw in Lancaster and Fleetwood, bisexual Liberal Democrat minister Simon Hughes in Bermondsey and Old Southwark, and LGBT ally Simon Kirby in Kemptown.
It added: “Given the likelihood of a close election in 2015… that means students could wield sufficient electoral power to influence the Parliamentary arithmetic and even which party or parties form the government.”
