Witney Woe for Tory Leavers as May's Man Mauled by Lib Dem Lions

21 Oct 2016
Tim Farron arriving at Autumn 2016 Conference
Tim Farron, Lib Dem Leader

The Witney Parliamentary By Election saw a huge swing to the Liberal Democrats of 19.3% as the Conservative vote fell back from 60% in 2015 to 45% yesterday. If repeated across the UK a movement in support like this would mean a loss of 26 seats from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats. This would wipe out Theresa May's majority.

Both the Greens and UKIP were eclipsed. Their vote shares were just 3.5% each and both lost their deposits. Labour stumbled and fell back.

With an enthusiastic campaign and a first class candidate in local councillor Liz Leffman, the Lib Dem Bird soared. The Liberal Democrat vote share increased by 24% leaving the party in a good 2nd place only 15% behind the Conservatives.

An anti-European Tory candidate was always going to be a provocative choice in a constituency which voted heavily to Remain in the EU but this result must also be seen a heavy criticism of Teresa May and her eccentric right-wing cabinet.

And we're not sure his pro-hunting credentials helped him either!

But West Herts was there to help! Even Wigginton sent its own modest canvassing team to support Liz Leffman and other teams broke off from their own local by-elections to join in for a day.

Meanwhile it was business as usual for local council campaigning and this week showed that there too the Liberal Democrat recovery is in full swing right across the UK.

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