THE LIBERAL Democrats are facing significant losses in next month’s local elections in English, Scottish and Welsh parliamentary contests, following a disastrous performance in a House of Commons byelection where they fell to sixth place behind the British National Party.
The Barnsley Central seat was won by Labour’s Don Jarvis, who secured 61 per cent of the vote, and Labour leader Ed Miliband was delighted because it represented a 14-point increase on the 2010 general election.
Liberal Democrat candidate Dominic Carman lost his deposit after he took just 4 per cent of the vote, down from 17 per cent last May when the party came second to Labour’s Eric Illsley. Illsley was subsequently jailed for falsely claiming expenses.
The Conservatives also suffered a reversal as the party’s candidate saw his support fall from 17 per cent last May to just 8 per cent on Thursday, four points behind the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip).
Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said: “I have no doubt people will try to use this single result to write off the Liberal Democrats. They have done it in the past and we have proved them wrong and we will prove them wrong again. In government, nationally, we will . . . sort out the economic mess we inherited from Labour.”
The result, however, is likely to provoke criticism of the party leadership when the Lib Dems meet for the spring conference next week. But few, for now, believe that an early exit from government is likely. However, the situation could be further complicated on May 5th – when voters go to the polls in the Welsh assembly and Scottish parliament elections, along with some English local authorities – if the scheduled elections include the alternative vote referendum.
Warwick University’s professor of politics Wyn Grant said: “I think in one sense the result actually reinforces the need for to hang in there . . . if they can survive this year, they can probably survive the five years.”
Rejecting suggestions that Barnsley revealed a national trend, Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes said the constituency was a “black hole” for the party, with no local councillors and few party members.
The UK Independence Party was jubilant about its showing – its best performance in a Westminster election, where from a solid campaign with a local candidate paid dividends.
The Ukip result comes on the back of a decent performance in the Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection, leading some optimistic party members to suggest that they are now the party to “attract the protest vote” that used to go to the Liberal Democrats.
