Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Blaydon will be too close to call – Lib Dems

LIBERAL Democrats in Blaydon have said that the election result in the constituency is too close to call between Lib Dems and Labour.

Launching his campaign to become the new MP for Blaydon, Liberal Democrat Neil Bradbury is aiming to build on the strong result the party achieved at the last election to close the gap on Labour’s David Anderson and to move ahead on polling day.

“Liberal Democrats were only 5,000 votes behind Labour last time. Since then we have continued to win council seats from Labour in the constituency. We have outpolled Labour in recent local elections.

“Everyone knows that the Conservatives, whose candidate lives in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, cannot win here. But for the first time in generations, Labour cannot afford to take Blaydon for granted.

“We will be fighting the election calling for a fair deal for Blaydon and to give our area a strong voice in Parliament.”

The votes cast for each party at the last general election in 2005 were:

Labour 20,120 (51.5%)
Lib Dem 14,785 (37.9%)
Conservative 3,129 (8%)
UKIP 1019 (2.6%)

Since then, boundary changes have brought fully into the constituency the Liberal Democrat held ward of Dunston Hill and Whickham East.