Labour's victory in Oldham East & Saddleworth wasn't the only one they notched up on Thursday as the party enjoyed excellent results in two County Council by-elections also taking place. Their gain in Cornwall was much more impressive than the Westminster hold and they almost snatched second place in Norfolk.
The South West is certainly not Labour's strongest region and before yesterday Labour did not hold any of Cornwall Council's (Unitary) 123 seats. All that changed when Jude Robinson topped Thursday's poll in Camborne North despite the fact her party finished fifth in the 2009 election. The vacancy arose following the resignation of the incumbent Councillor Bill Jenkin after Sexual Assault charges were brought against him. Jenkin was elected as a Conservative but he had been sitting as an Independent after details of the allegations had emerged. Robinson, who was the Labour candidate for the Camborne and Redruth Westminster constituency last year, polled just over 33% of the vote to win this competitive ward. When we were ambitiously toying with the idea to contact every PPC as part of our General Election coverage she was one of the few candidates to get back to us, so we wish her well!
On paper, the Liberal Democrats were the best placed to capitalise on this vacancy and they will be a little disappointed in their failure to win the seat. However, the result wasn't dreadful for the party as their vote share was slightly up on the 2009 result. Camborne is not what you would call an obvious Lib Dem area and in similar towns in other parts of the country they wouldn't be anywhere near as competitive. The Tories clearly suffered from the circumstances of the by-election, and as the party in power nationally and locally they were likely to attract a protest vote against them. Still, it will be very pleasing for Labour that they are already competitive in a County like Cornwall, although they'll have to wait until 2013 for the full council elections here.
Cornwall Council | |||||||
CON | LD | IND | MK | LAB | |||
48 | 39 | 32 | 3 | 1 | |||
Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- | ||||
Jude Robinson (E) | 230 | 32.4% | +21.8% | ||||
Denise Pascoe | 203 | 28.6% | -8.3% | ||||
Anna Pascoe | 152 | 21.4% | +2.0% | ||||
Paul Holmes | 61 | 8.6% | +6.4% | ||||
Mike Champion (MK) | 32 | 4.5% | -10.3% | ||||
Jacqueline Merrick | 31 | 4.4% | +4.4% | ||||
N/C (IND) | - | - | -15.9% | ||||
The other by-election on Thursday was for the Humbleyard ward on Norfolk County Council. The vacancy arose following the resignation of Conservative Councillor, and Council leader, Daniel Cox. Having secured just over half the vote eighteen months ago the Tories were expected to hold the seat and they duly delivered. Judith Virgo won her second Humbleyard by-election with a slightly reduced majority from the 2009 result. Virgo had previously represented this ward on the Council between 2006 and 2009. This was yet another good result for Labour as they more than doubled their tally from the previous election, falling just 12 votes short of pipping the Liberal Democrats to second place. They will be hoping this momentum carries over into the bordering Norwich City Council elections this May.
Humbleyard (Norfolk) | |||
Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- |
Judith Virgo (E) | 1015 | 46.6% | -5.4% |
Jacky Sutton | 438 | 20.1% | -4.5% |
Marian Chapman | 424 | 19.4% | +11.4% |
Jan Kitchener | 170 | 7.8% | -7.7% |
Richard Coke | 133 | 6.1% | +6.1% |
0 comments:
Post a Comment