Local by-election results (12/3/14 and 13/3/14) and other news

Ladies and gentlemen, local by-election results from 12th and 13th March are as follows:

Hampshire, Petersfield Butser: Con 1156 (37.3%), UKIP 720 (23.2%), Lib Dem 685 (22.1%), Lab 322 (10.7%), Green 220 (7.1%).

Canterbury, Barham Downs: Lib Dem 337 (37.3%), Con 285 (31.5%), UKIP 164 (18.1%), Lab 78 (8.6%), Green 40 (4.4%).

Luton, Farley: Lab 1232 (72.5%), UKIP 226 (13.3%), Con 154 (9.1%), Lib Dem 46 (2.7%), Green 41 (2.4%).

In Canterbury, our vote was squeezed by the fact that we were the only opposition to the ConDems in this ward in 2011; this time Labour and UKIP stood and probably helped the Liberal Democrats regain this ward. As for Petersfield Butser...nothing much happened (the swings were very low). Another interesting by-election report is of the Liberal Democrats gaining a Ludlow ward by a surprisingly large swing, given their terrible reputation across most of the nation.

In more important news, one of the greatest left-wing politicians of all time, Tony Benn, has sadly died, aged 88, just three days after the death of Bob Crow. I will be posting a tribute to him and all the hard work he did in due course. 

Alan.

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