There were four by-elections last week which resulted in two holds a piece for Labour and the Conservatives. That doesn't tell the whole story as in both the Conservative seats there was significant support for candidates who hadn't stood in the respective wards before.
In Meopham North, Gravesham (Kent) UKIP came a respectable second mainly down to their opposition to a local greenbelt housing plan. The Tories suffered a 29% swing to the anti-EU party since May's election but managed to hang onto the seat with a majority of 186 votes. In Lincolnshire the Independent candidate David Suiter did well in the County Council by-election for Sleaford West & Leasingham, also finishing second behind the Conservatives. Suiter is a North Kesteven District Councillor in Sleaford and so he wasn't a stranger to the electorate going into this by-election.
The two holds for Labour in St Helen's, Barnsley MBC and Bamber Bridge East, South Ribble (Lancashire) were achieved with very similar results to the elections held in these wards earlier in the year. In Barnsley Labour victory represented a 25% swing from the BNP on the 2008 result, highlighting the parties decline over recent years.
St Helen's (Barnsley) | Meopham North (Gravesham) | |||||||||||||||||
By-Election Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- | By-Election Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- | |||||||||||
Dave Leech (Lab) | 1257 | 75.8% | -3.6% | John Cubitt (Con) | 648 | 47.3% | -23.8% | |||||||||||
Danny Cooke (BNP) | 174 | 10.5% | -1.6% | Geoffrey Clark (UKIP) | 462 | 33.7% | +33.7% | |||||||||||
Kevin Riddiough (ED) | 146 | 8.8% | +8.8% | David Gibson (LD) | 148 | 10.8% | +10.8% | |||||||||||
Clive Watkinson (Con) | 61 | 3.7% | -4.9% | Andrew Mylett (Lab) | 112 | 8.2% | -20.8% | |||||||||||
Edward Goughwaite (Ind) | 21 | 1.3% | +1.3% | |||||||||||||||
Sleaford West & Leasingham (Lincolnshire) | Bamber Bridge East (South Ribble) | |||||||||||||||||
By-Election Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- | By-Election Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- | |||||||||||
Andrew Hagues (Con) | 614 | 43.0% | -14.0% | Mick Higgins (Lab) | 481 | 55.0% | -2.4% | |||||||||||
David Suiter (Linc Ind) | 454 | 31.8% | +31.8% | Barbara Nathan (Con) | 393 | 45.0% | +2.4% | |||||||||||
Jim Clarke (Lab) | 315 | 22.1% | +11.3% | |||||||||||||||
David Harding-Price (LD) | 45 | 3.2% | -10.8% | |||||||||||||||
Tom Harris
As I'm likely to be busier than I have been over the past year I am sorry to report that Britain-Votes will be running a reduced by-election service for the time being until I can bring on new contributions to share the workload. We will still be running the LiveBlog on Thursday night's and the By-Election Watch on Monday's but the weekly previews and analysis side of things will have be cut back. I will aim to get previous results up before the by-elections and then post a results page on Friday. Look out for contributor adverts over the next few days if you're interested.
0 comments:
Post a Comment