UK News

Glasgow dire for Labour – but not Crewe

Glasgow East has a very different feel to Crewe as it gears up for Thursday’s by-election.

In Crewe and Nantwich voters were palpably enthused by the prospect of giving Gordon Brown and Labour a good kicking. They were aware of the national significance of a Tory victory and relished the chance to send Brown a stern message. Turnout was a high 58 percent and the Conservatives achieved a massive 17.6 percent swing to win the seat in May.

A walk around the housing estates and shabby shopping complexes of Glasgow East tells a different story. Many locals frown and scurry off when asked their political views. Others who do stop and talk express indifference. The by-election may be a two-horse race between Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) but apathy is running a close third. Turnout here was less than 50 percent in the 2005 general election and is expected to be much lower next week, particularly because of summer school holidays.

But Labour is braced for a thrashing and a drastically reduced majority. Lifelong Labour supporters said they were switching to the SNP or even to the Conservatives, who barely make it on to the political map in Scotland. Diehard Labour loyalists — people who vote for Labour because their mother, father and grandparents did — may just help Brown hold on to the seat but Labour appears to be losing the support amongst the working class that it has relied on in Scotland for decades.

Was the Davis by-election a gimmick?

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To nobody’s great surprise, David Davis swept home at the “liberties” by-election in his Yorkshire seat that he himself had engineered by resigning.

Johnson overtakes Cameron

For the first time since he became mayor of London on May 2, Boris Johnson has overtaken Conservative leader David Cameron in “favourability”, according to an opinion tracker published on www.politicshome.com.

Johnson scored a rating of 3, up from -7 at the end of April, while Cameron got rated 1, up from -5.

At a glance – election results

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The election results for England and Wales at 8:00 p.m. with all 159 councils having officially declared.

Councillors   Councils   Party Won/lost Total Won/Lost Total Conservative +256 3154 +12 65 Labour -331 2368 -9 18 LibDem +34 1805 1 12 Plaid Cymru +33 207 -1 0 Other 5 893 0 0 NOC - - -3 64 Councils declared out of 159 total     159  

Source: BBC

Punch, Judy and shallow salesmen

Conservative Leader David Cameron conceded this week he had broken his promise to end “Punch and Judy” politics in the House of Commons.

“I will absolutely hold up my hands and say this is a promise I have not been able to deliver,” he told BBC Radio’s Today Programme on Tuesday.