More evidence of the incredibly competitive state of the fight between the two main parties from last night's council by-elections:
Tamworth BC, Castle Ward - Lab gain from Con - Tory maj of 181 in May turned into Lab maj of 6. This is in a key parliamentary marginal with a majority of about 2,500.
Guildford BC, Holy Trinity Ward - Con gain from LD
Telford and Wrekin UA, Brookside Ward - Con gain from Lab picking up second seat in what had been a split ward in May
Trying to make sense of by-election results at the moment is a bit like trying to read the tea leaves. Honestly. Things look very differently from region to region, as I know by working across so many.
ReplyDeleteLocal issues are likely to be increasingly important in national elections - I reckon we'll see this exhibited in a major way at the next general.
wBut the aggregrate position is quite amazingly good compared to previous years.
ReplyDeleteIn 2007 to date, Labour has made a net gain of 5 seats nationwide.
Whole year figures for previous years are:
2006 -9
2005 +1
2004 -14
2003 -18
2002 -14
2001 -5
2000 -38
1999 -31
1998 -43
1997 -30
1996 -17
True - but this includes the Brown bounce period and the 'we now know that Tony is "going period".
ReplyDeleteWe've got another 18 months of by-elections to go yet - save your energy :-)
It's only the Libs who rant on about real election results - turnout, turnout, turnout!