CONSTITUENCY SWING TO LIB DEMS IN BRACKNELL (Bracknell Liberal Democrats)

Bracknell Liberal Democrats <info@bracknelllibdems.org.uk>

CONSTITUENCY SWING TO LIB DEMS IN BRACKNELL

May 10, 2010 10:09 AM

Lib Dems force Labour into third place as Tory vote holds up

Despite the poisoned chalice inherited from his predecessor, Andrew MacKay, the Conservative candidate, Dr Phillip Lee, managed to hold on to the Bracknell seat with a slightly increased majority although this was not enough to stop a 1% constituency swing to the Liberal Democrats.

Lib Dem candidate, Ray Earwicker, increased the Party's share of the vote by 4.5% to 22.3%. Despite the swing from the Conservatives, which was significant given the disappointing results elsewhere, most of the gain was achieved at the expense of Labour, which saw its share of the vote fall by 11.1% to just 16.8%.

The Lib Dem share of the vote has increased steadily at each General Election since 1997 and is now almost 50% higher, while the Labour vote by comparison has almost halved. The Conservative vote during this period has remained relatively unchanged.

Commenting on the outcome of the election, Ray Earwicker, said 'he was surprised the Conservative vote had held up as well as it did, given Andrew MacKay's abuse of the expenses system, the parliamentary boundary changes and Tory rumblings about the way the new candidate had been selected. The rise in Conservative support nationally had no doubt helped to offset these factors but many had obviously dismissed them.

The poor showing by Labour only confirmed our view that the Liberal Democrats were now the main opposition party in Bracknell Forest. The successful election outcome would provide an excellent platform from which to launch next year's local election campaign and we are confident that further progress can be made. The Conservatives had little to show for their thirteen years in office and it was time for this to change and for others to be heard..'