Halewood South By-election
A new councillor has been elected in the Halewood South ward of Knowsley.
Labour candidate Allan Harvey received most votes in the by election held on Thursday 26 November.
The votes cast are as follows:
| Candidate | Party | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Carl Robert Cross | Conservative | 32 |
| Allan Harvey | Labour | 607 |
| Eric Arthur McIntosh | TUSP | 52 |
| Tommy Morretta | Liberal Democrat | 486 |
| Andy Thompson | Independent | 30 |
| Tony Ward | British National Party | 113 |
Turnout: 23.06%
The BNP will try and present this in a good light (coming third after not even putting up a candidate last time), but in reality this is is a bad result for them.
They put a lot of effort into the campaign locally (though without any obvious support from the party nationally), they were campaigning in an overwhelmingly white ward (recent census figures show only a 4% ‘ethnic’ population), they had a local candidate and the election was held against a backdrop of economic crisis, local uncertainty over the future of major employers and unhappiness with the main parties. The BNP benefited from a low turnout in the European elections, but getting their vote out here was still not enough.
We cannot be complacent, of course, and further challenges will come with the general election, but we have to thank all our activists, and those from the unions and elsewhere, who campaigned in the ward and exposed the real politics of the BNP.
