Eastleigh Results Points to Hinckley & Bosworth Lib Dem win

Liberal Democrats are this weekend celebrating success in the Eastleigh by-election.

Lib Dem Mike Thornton held on to the seat vacated by Chris Huhne by a majority of 1771 votes.

The Conservatives were pushed into a humiliating third place, while Labour, who as the main opposition party should be making progress in mid-term by-elections, slumped to fourth and saw their share of the vote stay static.

Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for bosworth Cllr Michael Mullaney said, "Eastleigh is very much like Hinckley & Bosworth. It is a straight fight between the Lib Dems and Conservatives. In Eastleigh, just as here, Labour were way behind and out of the race. Lib Dems also have a strong, active set of local Councillors, just as we do here. For us to win this by-election against a difficult national backdrop shows we can win seats like like Bosworth from the Tories in 2015."

Lib Dem Council Leader Stuart Bray, who spent a day in Eastleigh, said, "Eastleigh also exposed the total hypocrisy of the Tories. There they were claiming to fight against development, yet Tory Ministers in Government are instructing Councils to build on greenfields, doesn't that sound familiar? People are simply not fooled by their two-faced trickery".