15 July 2005

Liberal Democrats celebrate by-election win

The Liberal Democrats are celebrating after retaining their seat at the Cheadle by-election.

Mark Hunter, the Lib Dem leader of Stockport Council, won the seat by 19,953 votes. Mr Hunter beat his nearest rival, Conservative Stephen Day, who had been the area’s MP until 2001, by 3,657.

The by-election, which was held following the death of Liberal Democrat MP Patsy Calton from cancer shortly after the General Election, proved to be a huge disappointment for Labour. Martin Miller polled just 1,739 and lost his £500 deposit.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy described the win as a “first-class victory” for the party. There had been speculation that Mr Kennedy’s leadership of the party would have been under threat if the party had lost the seat to the Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats won the Cheadle seat from the Conservatives in 2001 with a majority of just 33. However, by this year’s General Election, Patsy Calton had increased the majority to over 4,000, in spite of being unable to campaign due to her illness.

Mr Hunter said that the vote had shown people wanted a more honest approach and accused the Conservatives of waging a “more negative, mud-slinging campaign than ever before”.

Mr Day said that it was the best by-election result for the Conservatives in years. The party has not won a by-election since 1982. Mr Day said: “I am pleased to see that the Conservative share of the vote has gone up.”

Mr Miller commented that the result had “showed that people were willing to vote for anyone to make sure the Conservative Party did not win.”

(KMcA/GB)