Among
the council by-elections which took place on 12 July appeared three results
which, on closer inspection, seemed a little curious. Pakefield, in Waveney, Suffolk, saw a
Conservative gain from Labour, but UKIP received 7.9 per cent of the vote while
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens all saw their vote decline. At Cockerton in Darlington, where there was
no UKIP candidate, Anne Marie Waters’ For Britain Movement received 5.8 per
cent of the vote, ahead of the Green Party – quite respectable for a party less than a year old.
The most
curious result of all was in Old Town, Barnsley, where there was no UKIP
candidate. Unsurprisingly Labour won,
but the Democrats and Veterans Party came second, with 27.3 per cent of the
vote, finishing ahead of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens, the
Yorkshire Party and the BNP – quite remarkable.
These
results occurred only days after ministerial resignations over the Prime
Minister’s Brexit proposals.
UKIP and
its offspring, For Britain and the Democrats and Veterans, seem to be picking up a
not inconsequential number of votes - straws in the wind perhaps?
Furthermore, an
opinion poll from Opinium for The Observer
(July15) shows that the Conservatives
have dropped six points with UKIP up five points to eight. In consequence Labour, although unchanged on
40 per cent, now have a four point lead over the Conservatives. Seems like Theresa May’s shenanigans over
Brexit stirred up a gale which could turn into the storm which blows the Tories
apart.
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