BNP and UKIP lose ground in Aldridge North and Walsall Wood

8.34.58am GMT Fri 24th Nov 2006

Yesterday saw the Conservatives safely hold the Aldridge North and Walsall Wood by-election. On paper it was a safe seat for them but I know they worked it hard, partly I suspect because the BNP were second. I say were because happily they pushed into third by Labour, UKIP also slipped coming behind the Liberal Democrats this time. Whilst the winner may not be a surprise the move to the mainstream political parties was and for perhaps the first time ever I want to congratulate the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The Full Result was:

Conservative 1156 votes

Labour 309 votes

BNP 222 votes

Liberal Democrats 161 votes

UKIP 134 votes

Whilst I could not be active in this campaign, Walsall is about the only place I cannot campaign - I work for the Council - I have watched the by-election from the sidelines. As well as seeing some of the literature I noted the Conservative candidate had a blog during the campaign which was actually quite good - I will see if I can have a chat with him about it over the next few weeks.

There is a Conservative Group meeting tonight it will be interesting to see which camp the new Councillor is a member of - Walsall Conservatives are split in, at least, two camps - but more on that in a few days!