News from Labour Matters

Lib Dem vote collapses, Labour triumphs in three by-elections

In three local by-elections held yesterday Labour triumphed, with a wholesale collapse in the Liberal Democrat vote in Labour’s favour.

In Nick Clegg’s Sheffield back yard, Labour’s Terry Fox comfortably kept Manor Castle Labour with a massive 17.5% swing from the Liberal Democrats to Labour. Labour won 2,092 votes with the Liberal Democrats trailing in a poor second place with just 303 votes.

It was an even worse story for the Liberal Democrats in Oxford after local Labour campaigner Mike Rowley took the Barton and Sandhills seat from the Lib Dems. This time the swing from the Lib Dems to Labour was 10%. Again the votes tell the story, with Labour winning 837 and the Liberal Democrats in second place with 334.

Labour also triumphed in the River Ward by-election in Medway, Kent with Labour’s John Jones this time taking the seat from the Conservatives with a 5% swing from David Cameron’s party. In a close result, Labour won 695 votes to the Conservatives’ 631.

The results mirror the sorry story for the Liberal Democrats nationally, after a YouGov tracking poll gave them just 10% support – the lowest the party has seen for two decades.

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