Eight hundred and what? - 09:53 pm, Sun 18th Jul 2010
Stop the world – Labour won in Riversway. A remarkable day truth be told that saw a massive turnout for Labour and a complete collapse of the Lib Dem vote. More than that though, the result has re-energised the Labour Party in Preston. The commitment of members and volunteers, some of whom came from outside Lancashire to help, was as impressive as the huge vote for Labour.
There’s also a sense of justice being done; this was never a seat that we should have lost. Bad enough was the decision of the electoral commission to prevent us using the Labour Party logo, but the behaviour and attitude of the Liberal Democrats made the result in May even harder to stomach.
This by-election has shown that people are turning against the Lib Dems in large numbers and rejecting their wild and distorted claims. Other by-election results in the country on the same day showed a similar pattern.
In Preston, this result represents a disaster for the Tories and Lib Dems. They did a deal to secure the seat and they still lost. Indeed, with national polling showing the Lib Dems more popular amongst Tory voters than their own, it is fortunate for the Lib Dems that they did a deal – their vote would have been even smaller of they hadn’t.
The Lib Dems struggled to paint any kind of coherent message in their literature or on the doorstep. While Labour maintained a local campaign, highlighting past successes and future policy ideas, the Lib Dems appeared unable to highlight any local success. After 3 years propping up the Tories at Preston Council, it is an indictment of the Lib Dems that they couldn’t name one single achievement from those 3 years.
It’s no better for the Tories either – they have once again been exposed as holding their voters in contempt and taking them for granted.
It is certainly a happier and energised Labour Party at the moment in Preston; whether this will mean making a move for the administration in Preston is not something I can comment on. My former council colleagues will have to decide on that. There is plenty else to think about at this stage though before we get to that stage. For now, those of us in Preston Labour Party will sit back and savour the victory.
Thank you Riversway – you made the right choice.
