[Chloé Palmas]

The 2017 vote increase in % of vote was mainly because of the collapse of parties like UKIP - they only ran in how many constituencies in 2017?

In 2015 (despite the gay marriage vote) a lot were sold on the idea of the EU referendum - all those then went and voted to leave. They had no loyalty to the Tory brand / Cameron's desire to remain...heck I think some of that vote was just to spite him.

They got what they wanted, then they stayed at home in 2017 - of the millions who voted for UKIP in the last election, how many went to the Tories? in 2015 UKIP won nearly 4 million votes.

In 2017 the Tories gained 2M+ on the last election...a lot of them were from UKIP. On their raw vote from 2015 (less the UKIP voters returning - who were likely the older voters) they lost votes - without the returning UKIP voters, they would have lost a net total of votes from 2015.

UKIP wipeout (even at 60 % of 3.8 million) is why their vote total increased...and yes that 15% of LD voters. Without that, the raw total is dropping and that will play out in the next few elections.

1. Because some of the elder generation still voting for them will pass away.

2. Because all those other votes (from other parties) are already factored into a base vote in the new 2017 totals - no way do the Tories match 13.6 million.