The Liberal Democrats have received just 15 votes in a council byelection in the Kingswood ward in Corby after the sitting councillor stepped down due to health problems.
The Liberal Democrats have received just 18 votes in a council byelection in the Kingswood ward in Corby after the sitting councillor stepped down due to health problems.
UKIP also beat the Conservatives who were pushed back into third place.
Labour candidate Elise Elliston won the seat with 722 votes, UKIP came second with 246 votes, the Tories were third with 154 votes and the Lib Dems finished in last place with just 18 votes.
Although only a byelection, the result will be a blow to the Liberal Democrats who received 345 votes the last time they fielded a candidate in the ward in 2007.
The latest result is in line with other poor Lib Dem electoral showings in an area that is considered an important ‘middle England’ swing seat.
In a parliamentary byelection held in Corby last year in the seat vacated by Louise Mensch, the Liberal Democrats lost their deposit, failing to receive the required 5 per cent of the vote.
Nationally the Lib Dems are on course to lose around nearly half of their 57 seats at the 2015 election; since 2010 the party has lost a third of its members and more than a thousand councillors. Recent YouGov polling has the Lib Dems trailing UKIP on just 9 per cent.
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9 Responses to “The coalition effect: Lib Dems receive just 18 votes in council byelection”
robertcp
The Lib Dems are never going to win in Corby, so the result does not matter. The only results that will matter for the Lib Dems in 2015 will be in the constituencies that they hold now. They could still hold the balance of power with 20+ MPs.
General Election
Thank you for the link to my blog. Just wanted to correct you though if you don’t mind. It was 18 votes not 15.
Two Bob
If they even get that…..
robertcp
I hope that they do, because we will probably have a Tory majority government if they are wiped out!