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Friday
24
November 2000
Labour holds Boothroyd
seat
LABOUR achieved a comfortable victory in the first of three parliamentary by-elections last night, holding on to West Bromwich West with a majority of more than 3,000. The party was also heading for victory in the two other by-elections. Although the Labour majority in the West Midlands seat was sharply
reduced, Tony Blair will be relieved to have held the seat in the face
of a strong challenge from the Conservatives. The Tories' failure to grab
West Bromwich West - their best hope of inflicting a by-election upset
in this Parliament - is likely to encourage Mr Blair to press ahead with
plans for a general election next May.
Labour's relief was tinged with concern at the low turnout, particularly in West Bromwich West, where only 27.6 per cent of the electorate bothered to vote. "Apathy was the real winner," a Labour Party spokesman said. But the 3,232 majority achieved by Labour's candidate, Adrian Bailey, was a big disappointment for the Tories, who should be winning by-elections at this stage of the Parliament to have any realistic chance of gaining power at the next election. Labour got just over 50 per cent of the vote, and so far has not lost a by-election in this Parliament. The by-election was caused by the decision of Betty Boothroyd to step down as Speaker of the Commons earlier this year. At the last election, she stood unopposed by the major parties and was returned with a 15,000 majority. In 1992, when she fought the seat against the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, she commanded a safe 6,000 majority.
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