Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Sarah Champion thanked the people of Rotherham for electing their first ever female MP
Labour has won three by-elections, holding Croydon North, Middlesbrough and Rotherham parliamentary seats.
The UK Independence Party came second in Middlesbrough and Rotherham, and finished third behind the Conservatives in Croydon North.
Labour significantly increased its share of the vote in Croydon North and Middlesbrough to over 60%.
But its majority was down in Rotherham, where the previous incumbent had quit over wrongful expenses claims.
Labour candidate Sarah Champion won in Rotherham with 9,866 votes to UKIP candidate Jane Collins' 4,648. The BNP and the Respect Party pushed the Conservatives into fifth place, while the Lib Dems lost their deposit, trailing in eighth.
In Middlesbrough, Labour's Andy McDonald, a solicitor for a trade union law firm and former Middlesbrough councillor, won with 10,201 votes to UKIP candidate Richard Elvin's 1,990.
In Croydon North, Labour's Steve Reed - currently the leader of Lambeth Council - won 15,898 votes, beating the Conservatives' Andy Stranack by 11,761. Again polling under 5%, the Liberal Democrats lost their second deposit of the night.
The Croydon North and Middlesbrough polls were triggered by the deaths of MPs Malcolm Wicks and Sir Stuart Bell.
Ms Champion, chief executive of a children's hospice, said: "Cameron's Tories have shown what they think of Rotherham, and today this result tells David Cameron what Rotherham thinks of the Tories."
The Middlesbrough Lib Dem candidate, George Selmer, came third with 1,672 votes, or nearly 10% of the vote. Ben Houchen of the Conservative Party was in fourth place on 1,063, just three votes ahead of the Peace Party's Imdad Hussain.
Labour was odds-on at the bookmakers to retain all three seats.
Attending the Rotherham count, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said it had been a "big night" for his party.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Nigel Farage: "UKIP's issues are connecting more and more with people"
"Our previous best-ever by-election result, a fortnight ago, was 14.3% and this one is comfortably over 20%. Whichever way you look at it, UKIP is on the rise," he said.
UKIP's campaign in Rotherham was boosted by a row over a local couple who had their foster children removed by the Labour council because they were UKIP members.
But worries about unemployment had proven to be more important to voters than the headlines about fostering, BBC political reporter James Vincent commented.
Having not been a Labour Party member for long, Ms Champion convinced enough voters to give her a chance during a very short campaign that started with questions over whether she was the right candidate, our correspondent added.
Analysis
Chris Mason Political correspondent
In headline terms, nothing changed in these by elections. Seats that have long been comfortably held by Labour still are.
Sarah Champion was elected to replace Denis MacShane in Rotherham, who resigned earlier this month because of his expenses. Andy McDonald and Steve Reed were elected in Middlesbrough and Croydon North respectively, after the deaths of their predecessors Sir Stuart Bell and Malcolm Wicks.
But the pecking order amongst the also-rans will worry some Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The UK Independence Party finished second in Rotherham and Middlesbrough and third in Croydon North.
Its leader Nigel Farage described it as the party's "most impressive result in Westminster elections so far". The Liberal Democrat candidates in Rotherham and Croydon both lost their deposits.
Mr Stranack, the best performing Conservative candidate of the night, said he was disappointed to come second in Croydon North, but ousting Labour had proven to be a "big challenge".
The Conservative, who was born with cerebral palsy, added: "I would like to challenge all of the main party leaders to look at the inspiration our Paralympians bought us over the summer and take the bold decision to select more candidates with disabilities."
Respect had hoped to pull off a repeat of George Galloway's surprise victory in Bradford West in April, when he overturned a 5,000 Labour majority to romp home by 10,000, after winning over the British Asian Muslim vote.
But Lee Jasper, the party's candidate in Croydon North and a former adviser to Ken Livingstone, won just 707 votes, placing sixth, and Yvonne Ridley, the Respect candidate in Rotherham, came fourth with 1,778 votes.
Turnout at all three contests was in the spotlight after fewer than 15% of voters cast a ballot in the first Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales - a peacetime low.
The Electoral Commission has launched an investigation into the woeful PCC turnout, which some were blaming on the dark November nights and poor weather.
Turnout
- Croydon North - 26.4%
- Middlesbrough - 25.9%
- Rotherham - 33.6%
Turnout in the Corby by-election, on the same day as the PCC ballot, was about 45%.
In the post-war period, the lowest Commons election turnout was 19.6% when Labour's Hilary Benn won Leeds Central in a June 1999 by-election.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Labour in triple by-election win
Dengan url
http://sarapanoatmeal.blogspot.com/2012/11/labour-in-triple-by-election-win.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Labour in triple by-election win
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Labour in triple by-election win
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar