Oldham East & Saddleworth

[Eric]

Just noticed the coverage of the by-election ... looks like your third party is taking a beating. Which leads me to ask again: "What is so frightening about a minority government?" It seems as if the drop in their popularity is linked directly to their, in my opinion, tying their fortunes to the tories.

[Ken Moss]

The coalition government seems to be holding together surprisingly well but the Liberal Democrats have effectively finished themselves off by aligning themselves with the Conservatives for a sniff of power.

I hope they enjoy it because once the truce is called off I suspect that their third place will be a very distant one with voters.

[jaysay]

None event of the year so far

[cmonstanley]

looked like the tory voters aligned themselves with the lib dems





labour 1 con dem 0

[DaveinGermany]

From a turn out of 48.6% hardly a resounding reflection on any Political parties standing in the public eye, as some in political circles are wont to state "That means at least 51.4% didn't (couldn't be bothered to) vote !"

[Alan Varrechia]

I blame 8 months of Tory rule.

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

From a turn out of 48.6% hardly a resounding reflection on any Political parties standing in the public eye, as some in political circles are wont to state "That means at least 51.4% didn't (couldn't be bothered to) vote !"

Staggeringly, that's not a bad turnout! The average figure for any election which isn't the General is usually around the 25-30% mark.

To put it in perspective, in Rishton last year we got the highest turnout in the whole of Hyndburn with 68%, still leaving a considerable number who didn't make their voices heard.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

The coalition government seems to be holding together surprisingly well but the Liberal Democrats have effectively finished themselves off by aligning themselves with the Conservatives for a sniff of power.

I hope they enjoy it because once the truce is called off I suspect that their third place will be a very distant one with voters.

On the question of the coalition holding together: how difficult would it be for the Liberal Democrats to bail? And if they did, would it mean a minority government, or, would the Conservatives head for the polls? And, while I'm at it, how would the electorate react to an election so soon after the last one?

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by cmonstanley

looked like the tory voters aligned themselves with the lib dems





labour 1 con dem 0

Looks like they didn't bother, and no its not Labour 1 Con/dems 0 Labour won the seat in May but as usually they found out their candidate was a lying cheating scumbag

[Mancie]

Originally Posted by Eric

On the question of the coalition holding together: how difficult would it be for the Liberal Democrats to bail? And if they did, would it mean a minority government, or, would the Conservatives head for the polls? And, while I'm at it, how would the electorate react to an election so soon after the last one?

It would be political suicide for the Lib-Dems to pull out of the Coalition....the way things have turned out the Lib-Dems need the Tories more than the Tories need them.
If the Coalition was to breakdown then it's likley the Tories would call a GE...the present polls show a Labour lead but the Toriy support has been stable...I reckon the Tories would gain a small overall majority if there was any election in the near future.

[JCB]

The result will be a morale booster to Labour whose share of the vote is back to the 1997 landslide result .
There was a collapse in the Conservative vote , down from 26% to 12% . I think this is unusual in a bye-election so close to a General Election . They were down by more than 7000 votes , so they can't say that Conservative voters switched to the Liberal Democrats . If that was the case the Liberal Democrats would have won , but instead they were more than 3500 votes behind Labour . And remember that the Liberal Democrat boast used to be how well they did in bye-elections .

I think that the Coalition's mantra about the mess that Labour left behind is beginning to wear a bit thin . When people look at the USA , Ireland , Greece , Portugal , Spain , etc. they are reminded that the mess was a result of an international , global financial crisis .

Without doubt the Labour government made mistakes just like the Coalition is making , but in no way can it be made to share the full blame of what was a disaster for global capitalism .

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by Eric

On the question of the coalition holding together: how difficult would it be for the Liberal Democrats to bail? And if they did, would it mean a minority government, or, would the Conservatives head for the polls? And, while I'm at it, how would the electorate react to an election so soon after the last one?

My personal opinion is that bailing out would be seen as more pro-active and strong-willed than waiting for it to fall apart but there would still be no real benefits to them in doing so. I feel fairly certain that I won't see a Liberal Democrat government now in my lifetime.

As far as another election goes, speaking as a Labour man it's a double-edged sword. It doesn't seem unreasonable that Labour have a good chance of winning another General Election but campaigning is an expensive business for all concerned plus we'd have another bout of canvassing. The Hyndburn councillors have already had the General Election plus a by-election and now the upcoming local elections in May, it eats up your spare time and there's plenty to do in each ward as it is.

With the extensive coverage of the elections last year and local elections most years (including this year in May), we might find ourselves in a situation where voters just get completely fed up with it all if there's another national election so soon.

Just my musings. Other more experienced councillors might think differently.

[Bernard Dawson]

Originally Posted by JCB

The result will be a morale booster to Labour whose share of the vote is back to the 1997 landslide result .
There was a collapse in the Conservative vote , down from 26% to 12% . I think this is unusual in a bye-election so close to a General Election . They were down by more than 7000 votes , so they can't say that Conservative voters switched to the Liberal Democrats . If that was the case the Liberal Democrats would have won , but instead they were more than 3500 votes behind Labour . And remember that the Liberal Democrat boast used to be how well they did in bye-elections .

I think that the Coalition's mantra about the mess that Labour left behind is beginning to wear a bit thin . When people look at the USA , Ireland , Greece , Portugal , Spain , etc.
they are reminded that the mess was a result of an international , global financial crisis .
Without doubt the Labour government made mistakes just like the Coalition is making , but in no way can it be made to share the full blame of what was a disaster for global capitalism .

A bigger majority last night than in the 1997 landslide. Although the share of the vote as you say was about the same.

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Looks like they didn't bother, and no its not Labour 1 Con/dems 0 Labour won the seat in May but as usually they found out their candidate was a lying cheating scumbag

'As usual'? That doesn't exactly paint Graham Jones in an honest light, does it?

Mind you, fair's fair. Conservatives never lie, look at the heavy taxation being levied on the bankers, just like they said they would when they were in opposition.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

'As usual'? That doesn't exactly paint Graham Jones in an honest light, does it?

Mind you, fair's fair. Conservatives never lie, look at the heavy taxation being levied on the bankers, just like they said they would when they were in opposition.

Nothing to do with Graham Jones, and when it comes to bending the truth Labour did that for thirteen years and it cost use very dear, the worst economic statistics every met by any incoming government in history