Thursday 21 October 2010 12:00
Con 306 (45.2; -26.3) LD Seb Berry 281 (41.5; +13.0) UKIP 90 (13.3; +13.3) Majority 25 Turnout 34.45% Con hold Percentage change is since May 2007
Seb Berry was the only one of the three candidates who had a significant record of action in the village, and the only one who lived in the ward. Both points we made repeatedly in our Focus leaflets. Not surprisingly, as the (why are we proceeding with this colossal waste of £30bn?) HS2 rail line is proposed to cut through the village, the election came down to a question of 'who can best oppose HS2'? To which the answer would also have been 'Seb Berry the Lib Dem candidate' had not UKIP fought a mendacious and hypocritical campaign ignoring their own 2010 election manifesto support for high-speed rail and the enthusiasm of (at least one of) their northern MEPs for the project. In retrospect we should have countered this 'ukipocrisy' more strongly. Had the defection from the Tories split even 60-40 in our favour we would have won a deserved victory. As it was, here's another reminder that a greater proportion of 'our' votes go to UKIP than many of us like to think.
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