The only council by-election last night was in the Belle Vue ward of Shropshire Council, which takes in some reasonably comfortable Shrewsbury suburbs. You can read more about it in Andrew Teale's preview.
This has long been a Labour ward, and last night they held it with the Liberal Democrats coming second with an increase in their vote.
What is striking here is the fall in the Conservative vote from 24.2 per cent to 11.9 per cent. They weren't helped by the appearance of a Ukip candidate, but this is still a poor result for them - particularly just a week before the local elections.Belle Vue (Shropshire) result:— Britain Elects (@britainelects) April 25, 2019
LAB: 47.1% (+4.1)
LDEM: 31.5% (+3.2)
CON: 11.9% (-12.3)
GRN: 5.1% (+0.6)
UKIP: 4.5% (+4.5)
Labour HOLD.https://t.co/Ud5Y73Jm21
It does support the story, based on an internal Lib Dem memo in the Mirror this morning, that the Tories face "catastrophe" next week.
Apparently the memo says:
"Just half of people who expressed support for Labour in 2015 are now intending to definitely or probably vote Labour."
Is it surprising that only half of those who supported Labour in 2015 and 45% of those who supported the Tories in 2015 are intending to support those parties on 2 May?
ReplyDeleteThe local elections in 2015 coincided with a general election, in which the turnout was 66%. The turnout in last year's locals was 35%.