Council by-elections
Only one major authority one tonight, confirming the LD slide:
Park Ward, Windsor & Maidenhead UA. Con hold. Con 637 (64.4%, +2.4), LD 156 (15.8%, -18.1), Lab 149 (15.1%, +11), Ind 47 (4.8%, +4.8). Swing of 10.3% from LD to Con since 2007.
And an interesting parish council one in David Cameron's own constituency, where the Tories gave the LDs a free run in a normally Tory seat but it backfired spectacularly:
Witney East Ward, Witney Town Council:
Duncan Enright, Lab 480 (66.7%)
LD 123 (17.1%)
Green 117 (16.2%)
In case people haven't seen it tonight's YouGov poll is fairly impressive: Lab 43%, Con 39%, LD 7% (their lowest ever).
posted by Luke Akehurst at 12:03 am
6 Comments:
Just a shame we couldn't quite beat the buggers into 3rd :-)
12:35 am, January 07, 2011
I see that a very undemocratic and ugly argument about Ed Miliband has resurfaced in recent newspaper reports:
"What chance do I stand as a person in the country if you’re quite happy to tread all over your brother to get to the top?"
This unbelievably stupid non sequitur question was asked on a Radio 2 phone in. But the fact is that Ed was perfectly entitled to stand and people were perfectly entitled to vote for him.
And let us not forget the differences between Ed and David Miliband:
1. A denunciation of the Iraq war.
2. A denunciation of identity cards
3. Unapologetic support for the 50%
tax rate.
I never thought that I would ever vote Labour again but am certainly considering it as a result of Ed Miliband's election. I am not massively enthusiastic though and he could do better by opposing any replacement at all for Trident.
10:34 am, January 08, 2011
It's also a daft argument because if David had won he would have beaten his brother as well.
4:06 pm, January 08, 2011
ONE of the longestserving councillors in Wales has defected from the Liberal Democrats to Labour.
Neath Port Talbot veteran John Warman says he made the decision because the Lib Dem leadership had betrayed a generation of young people.
He said, "During the general election campaign I went to Swansea University when Nick
Clegg was there, and the support he had from all the students and young people was tremendous," said Mr Warman, councillor for Cimla since 1972.
"He was like a hero. We were a party that was going to abolish tuition fees. Then they entered into the coalition with the Conservatives and betrayed a generation of young people.
"I cannot abide hypocrisy in politics and what Clegg and the others in Government have done is unforgivable. They have abandoned a generation that looked to them for leadership.
"People are seeing that the coalition is just a Conservative government by another name."
7:58 pm, January 08, 2011
Luke,
First two Oldham and Saddleworth polls are out tonight, (Saturday),as follows:
ICM
Lab 44%
Libs 27%
Con 18%
Others 11%
Populus
Lab 46%
Libs 29%
Con 15%
Others 10%
Looks like Cons switching to Libs cannot outweigh Libs switching to Labour.
Most encouraging although I guess more Tories might vote tactically for Libs if they realise they have no chance.
But even so, imagine how the Libs workers and supporters must be feeling!
9:42 pm, January 08, 2011
I cannot recall two by election polls coming out at the same time and producing such a similar result!
As someone who cares about policies rather than parties, I think that a Labour win would be best. It would stabilise Ed Miliband's leadership and that is very important indeed right now.
His limited attempt to de-contaminate the Labour Party does deserve some kind of recognition.
Of course, he should not have appointed Woolas to the frontbench and he should be strongly criticised for doing so. And action should also have been taken against those in the Woolas' campaign team who thought up such an ugly and repugnant strategy and helped execute it.
The Labour candidate is not Woolas and needs to be given a chance.
Such an outcome would also serve as a warning to the Liberal Democrats.
3:16 pm, January 10, 2011
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