Settles where Conservative is defeated (6)
I believe the answer is:
closes
'settles' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'conservative is defeated' is the wordplay.
'conservative' becomes 'c' (abbreviation commonly used in UK politics).
'is defeated' becomes 'loses' (I've seen this before).
'c'+'loses'='CLOSES'
'where' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for closes that I've seen before include "comes to an end" , "Shuts" , "Wind up" .)