It’s not often that a piece of news leaves Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage both celebrating but there you have it.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrat | Mike Thornton | 13,342 | 32.06% | -14.44% | |
| UKIP | Diane James | 11,571 | 27.80% | +24.20% | |
| Conservative | Maria Hutchings | 10,559 | 25.37% | -13.93% | |
| Labour | John O’Farrell | 4,088 | 9.82% | +0.22% | |
| Independent | Danny Stupple | 768 | 1.85% | N/A | |
| National Health Action | Iain Maclennan | 392 | 0.94% | N/A | |
| Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party | Ray Hall | 235 | 0.56% | N/A | |
| Christian | Kevin Milburn | 163 | 0.39% | N/A | |
| Monster Raving Loony | Howling Laud Hope | 136 | 0.33% | N/A | |
| Peace | Jim Duggan | 128 | 0.31% | N/A | |
| Elvis Loves Pets | David Bishop | 72 | 0.17% | N/A | |
| English Democrats | Michael Walters | 70 | 0.17% | -0.33% | |
| TUSC | Daz Procter | 62 | 0.15% | N/A | |
| Wessex Regionalist | Colin Bex | 30 | 0.07% | N/A | |
I’m slightly surprised at how badly Labour did to be honest as their previous outing in Eastleigh had lost them 10% of the vote since 2005 and I thought a good slice of those voters at least would come back into the fold. It clearly demonstrates that the poll boost they have received nationally is extremely thin and where someone else can push themselves in as the party of opposition that boost just evaporates.
We’ve now had Labour massively increase their votes in safe seat by-elections but here, where Labour are not so strong, they’ve made no headway. This bodes an ill wind for Miliband who needs to be able to win new seats in 2015 not just increase his majority in seats he already has. Not that he’d ever have won this seat.
The Lib Dems are celebrating a mere 14.4% drop in their poll rating – well done them – and the big news, of course, is that a weak, inconsistent and off message right-wing Tory simply legitimised UKIP who were able to leap ahead at an incredible rate.
Of the others only the right-wing independent made any dent at all and surely it is time to accept that TUSC should get a name that reflects their politics rather than an anagram no one has ever heard of. Oh, and the results are a clear vindication for the Greens who decided not to waste money standing in order to get less than 1%, which they surely would have. Good for them too!