Oldham,England, January 14:Britain’s Labour party comfortably won a contest for an empty parliamentary seat on Friday, in a result that reflected the Liberal Democrats’ fall from favour since joining a Conservative-led government in May.
Opposition Labour’s Debbie Abrahams won 14,718 votes in the marginal Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, 3,558 more than closest rival, Lib Dem Elwyn Watkins. In May’s election, Labour beat the Lib Dems to the seat by just 103 votes.
The Lib Dems have had a torrid time since signing up to Britain’s first coalition government since World War Two, freefalling in opinion polls and facing stern criticism for backing austerity cuts they had once passionately opposed.
While one defeat will not cripple the centre-left Lib Dems nor the coalition, it is a boost for Labour’s new leader Ed Miliband and will spur critics of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg whose popularity has bombed since he entered office.
It’s because of broken promises — they just got into bed with the Tories (Conservatives),” Michael Brooks, a 28-year-old builder, told Reuters at a polling station on a drizzly night in the northern English constituency.
It seems like their point of view just got washed away.” The vote, the first ballot box test for the coalition, was called after a Labour lawmaker was ousted after being found guilty of smearing his Lib Dem rival in the 2010 election.
With the contest pitting the two governing parties against each other, there were reports that Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron had scaled back his own party’s campaign to help out his Lib Dem allies and take pressure off Clegg.
Conservative candidate Kashif Ali secured just 4,481 votes, more than 7,000 less than his 2010 election score.
”They (voters) have sent a clear message to those in Downing Street,” Labour’s Abrahams said, warning the coalition it was time to listen to voters’ about big government spending cuts.
] ——————— REUTERS