Here is the results of the Rotherham parliamentary by-election in order:-
CHAMPION, Sarah Deborah; Labour Party Candidate; 9966; Elected (cf 2010:- 16,741 votes)
COLLINS, Jane Maria; UKIP; 4648 (cf 2010:- 2,220 votes)
GUEST, Marlene; BNP; 1804 (cf 2010:- 3,906 votes)
RIDLEY, Yvonne; Respect (George Galloway); 1778 (Not stood here before)
WILSON, Simon Francis; The Conservative Party Candidate; 1157 (cf 2010:- 6,279 votes)
WILDGOOSE, David Basil; English Democrats – “Putting England First!”; 703 (Not stood here before)
COPLEY, Simon Keith(Rev); Independent; 582
BECKETT, Michael; Liberal Democrats – for a fairer Britain; 451 (cf 2010:- 5,994 votes)
DYSON, Ralph; Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts; 281 (Not stood here before)
DICKSON, Paul; Independent; 51
BRISTOW, Clint; (EDL); 29http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/electionresults Election Results 2011 – Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Labour’s tribal vote enabled them to claim the victory again, despite the low turnout of 34% and their loss of 6,000 votes, partly because they easily won the Postal Vote. For any party to win a parliamentary election, with the system as it now is, they must have done a full canvass of all the constituency. That takes huge resources of manpower and time! In a by-election there is the additional requirement to have a very deep pocket. Clearly only Labour has these ingredients in Rotherham at present.
UKIP’s result is interesting but shows that, even with all that media coverage that they had at the most crucial period in the election, they could not break through in any of the three by-elections yesterday. In Rotherham they doubled their number of votes – probably almost entirely from the Conservatives. This result may yet prove to have been their high water mark – now that they have probably done enough to get Cameron’s attention. Expect a determined effort to smash them by Conservative proxies over the next few months!
The BNP only got a third of their previous vote; the Conservatives only a fifth; the Lib Dems only a twelth!
As for the English Democrats, if UKIP had not had so much media coverage, I think we might well have beaten them, even on this our first parliamentary outing in Rotherham, but nevertheless it is the best parliamentary by-election result that we have had both in terms of numbers and in terms of percentage – 3.3% (except the unique one at Haltemprice & Howden).
UKIP had wall to wall coverage for days and have plenty of money so they could spend up to the £100,000 by-election limit. We had a good candidate and a good team of helpers but not yet enough resources to match the bigger parties but it looks likely that we will get a functioning branch out of it – if so it will be time and effort very well spent in the longer run!
