5 May 2012
Mandy Narrowly Fails To Oust Tory: Labour up 39%, Tories down 32%, Lib Dems down 48%
The elections on Thursday 3rd May saw Mandy Richards, Labour’s candidate for the Havering and Redbridge seat on the Greater London Assembly, reduce Conservative Roger Evans majority from 43,025 in 2008 down to just 3,899.
This fantastic result was due to the extremely hard work of Mandy and Labour Party members in the constituency since she was selected as the candidate in 2010. There was a disappointing turnout on the day, down by more than 8% from 2008. Yet, in Havering & Redbridge, Labour achieved an astonishing increase of 39%, or nearly 14,000 votes.
By comparison, the Tories’ vote fell by 32%, losing 25,000 votes.
The Liberal Democrat vote was down by a devastating 48% to just 6,453 votes as they trailed in 5th behind UKIP and the London Residents Association. With less than 5% of the vote they have lost their deposit.
The elections for the GLA have left the Labour Party across London with 12 seats, Conservatives 9, Green Party 2 and Liberal Democrats 2. Boris Johnson was re-elected as London Mayor, but only after a much closer run race with Labour’s Ken Livingstone than anyone had been predicting.
May 3rd also saw Labour making huge gains in Council seats all over England, Scotland and Wales, with poor results for both the national coalition government parties.
Voters are making it clear to the Tory/Lib Dem parties that the austerity measures are hurting, but they’re not working. The recent budget gives tax breaks to the wealthiest but raises taxes for millions of families, proving the lie in the government’s “we’re all in it together” message.
