Sunday, July 18, 2004

Leicester South & Birmingham, Hodge Hill

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that I have been busy since my last post due to my exams (which went really bad, DON’T ASK) and then this small thing sometimes referred to as “Super Thursday”.

Well what can I say, on the morning of Thursday 15th July 2004 the Liberal Democrats had 54 MPs. 52 Liberal Democrat MPs elected in the 2001 general election, along with Paul Marsden who switched from the Labour party in December 2001 and Sarah Teather, who won the Brent East by-election in September 2003 and by the early hours of Friday 16th July the Liberal Democrats had increased this to 55 with Councillor Parmjit Singh Gill becoming Councillor Parmjit Singh Gill MP. Unfortunately we did well in Hodge Hill but could not make Nicola Davies our 56th MP.

The Liberal Democrats won the Leicester South by-election overturning a massive Labour majority. The Conservatives who were second at the last General Election came third and proved that they are now irrelevant in Urban Britain. The Liberal Democrats and Parmjit Singh Gill MP who becomes the first Ethnic Minority MP for the party overturned Labours massive majority to prove that they are the only alternative to the Labour party in Urban Britain.

The result in Birmingham, Hodge Hill where I have spent most my time was also very good for the Liberal Democrats and again it emphasised that the Liberal Democrats are the only alternative to the Labour party in Urban Britain and that the Conservatives are irrelevant in Urban Britain. In the Birmingham, Hodge Hill the Liberal Democrats and our candidate Nicola Davies got an 27% swing which was larger then the 22% in Leicester South which made the defeat even more disappointing. In this formerly rock-solid Labour seat, their majority was slashed to just 460 votes.

So congratulations to Nicola and Parmjit on their success in the by-elections but most of all Thank you to all the Liberal Democrat activists who came from all across the country to help in either Birmingham or Leicester.

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