Ukip marches deeper into Labour Heartlands: Five-fold increase in vote pushes Tories into third in by-election



Labour's Mike Kane held the safe seat of Wythenshawe and Sale East

Ukip's take second place with 4,301 votes compared to 3,479 for the Tories

Both the Conservatives and Ukip had thrown resources at the campaign



Lib Dems only got 1,176 votes and candidate would not to talk to the media

Nigel Farage today boasted that Ukip is the main opposition in the north of England after coming second to Labour in a high-profile by-election.

The Tories were pushed into third place behind the eurosceptic party, with the Lib Dems humiliated after losing their deposit.

David Cameron sought to play down the significance of again being beaten by Ukip, but Mr Farage ailed 'really good solid, steady progress' against the mainstream parties.



Thumb's up: Nigel Farage hailed the by-election result, which saw Ukip candidate John Bickley (left) come second ahead of the Tories, as proof his party is now the opposition in the north

Labour’s Mike Kane comfortably held the safe seat of Wythenshawe and Sale East in the early hours of this morning and become the party’s newest MP.



But Ukip, who trailed in fifth place at the 2010 General Election, saw their strategy of targeting Labour seats in the North of England pay off – with a Conservative collapse and humiliation for the Lib Dems.

The anti-EU party’s candidate was John Bickley, a businessman who grew up in the area in a staunchly Labour household.



He said the result showed the progress Ukip were making, telling Sky News: 'In the north of England we're shaping up to be the only opposition to Labour.'



A Ukip battle bus parked on a taxi rank was given a parking ticket in outside the by-election count Manchester City Council's former parking chief Nigel Murphy said: 'We recommend to all people not to park in taxi ranks. We look forward to receive their payment' Mr Bickley's campaign focused on concerns about immigration, the EU and rising green taxes on energy bills, but leaflets also highlighted ‘Labour’s millionaires’.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage had complained the campaign had been 'as dirty as they come'.

Labour were the clear winners with 13,261 votes. Ukip pulled in 4,301 compared with the Tories' 3,479. The Lib Dem candidate Mary Di Mauro managed only 1,176 and refused to talk to the media.

The by-election was triggered by the sudden death of popular Labour MP Paul Goggins MP, who collapsed while out jogging last month, aged 60.

Labour has held the seat for 17 years since it was created and the late Mr Goggins took 58 per cent of the vote at the last election, with the Conservatives in second place on 25 per cent.

The by-election was triggered by the sudden death of popular Labour MP Paul Goggins MP, who collapsed while out jogging last month, aged 60

Both the Conservatives and Ukip had thrown resources at the campaign, with Treasury minister Sajid Javed and Justice Secretary Chris Grayling among the MPs who travelled there to campaign for their contender, politically-unknown vicar Daniel Critchlow, 26.

Ukip's previous best result was gaining 27.8 per cent of the vote in the Eastleigh by-election last March, coming a close second to the Lib Dems in the contest following the resignation of disgraced former minister Chris Huhne.



Labour won the Wythenshawe and Sale East parliamentary by-election today while the Conservatives were pushed into third place by Ukip and Lib Dem support was decimated.

Former councillor Mike Kane held the seat for the party, polling 13,261 votes.

The party's success and the demise of the Tory vote is yet another by-election blow to Prime Minister David Cameron.

But the Liberal Democrats were dealt a humiliating blow when they polled just 1,176 votes - not enough to hold their deposit.



The by-election was brought about by the sudden death of the serving MP, Paul Goggins, on January 7, at 60.

In his victory speech, Mr Kane said voters had 'sent a very clear message' to the Government.

'They have rejected the failed policies of the out-of-touch Tories, they have rejected the isolationism and scaremongering of Ukip.



'It's a result which emphatically demonstrates that people here know the NHS is not safe in David Cameron's hands, and that we've had enough of his utterly out-of-touch government.'

On the subject of vote retention, Nigel Farage said his party's performance in increasing its share of the vote represented 'really good progress' in the North and said that only the lightning timetable set for the campaign by Labour, and a turn out of just 28 per-cent, had prevented it doing even better.

‘We are picking up votes in the North of England, and we are getting most of them from the Labour Party,’ the Ukip leadersaid. ‘Our message is this – open-door immigration has hit Labour voters and lower tax payers more than any other part of our society.

‘Link that with the fact that Old Labour does not like being governed from Brussels and that is why we are picking up votes in the North.’

The Prime Minister described the Conservative result – in which its share of the vote was almost halved to 14.5 per cent – as ‘disappointing’.



But he suggested that Ukip’s momentum had stalled, after a number of by-elections in which the party polled more than 20 per cent. Labour dismissed suggestions it was losing votes to Ukip. Mr Kane said voters had ‘rejected the failed policies of the out-of-touch Tories’, as well as the ‘isolationism and scaremongering of Ukip’.

But senior Labour figures acknowledge privately that Ukip is making inroads into the working-class vote.

‘Until recently I was encouraging people to vote Ukip because I knew it would hurt the Conservatives,’ said one. ‘Not any more. They are taking votes off us in significant numbers and, unless we promise a referendum on the EU, they will continue to do so.’

Mr Miliband said the Tories should be ‘deeply concerned’ by the collapse of their vote at a time when the economy is showing signs of recovery.

Lib Dem president Tim Farron described the party’s performance, where it polled just 1,176 votes and lost its deposit, as ‘very disappointing’.

‘The reality is in by-elections in the past the Liberal Democrats were often the “None of the Above Party”. The reality is now that we’re one of the above,’ he said.



BAD FOR TORIES, DISASTER FOR CLEGG: ANALYSIS BY JOHN CURTIS

Professor John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University British politics looks like a stalemate at the moment. Labour is ahead in the polls, but not by enough to be confident of victory in 2015.

The Tories are still trying to find the favourable political wind they hope economic recovery will bring. The Liberal Democrats remain in the deep black hole they have occupied ever since they supported £9,000 tuition fees, while after their dramatic rise in the polls earlier last year, Ukip appear to be doing little more than treading water. The Wythenshawe result confirmed this picture. There was one big loser – the Lib Dems – while nobody else could be wholly satisfied with their achievement. True, Labour not only won the seat but also increased its share of the vote by 11 percentage points – almost twice its average rise in all previous by-elections since 2010.

However, at 55 per cent its share was still lower than the Labour vote locally in 2001.

That does not give the impression of a party well set to grab power next year. The Conservative performance was almost a mirror image of Labour’s – its vote fell by 11 points. The drop matches almost exactly the party’s average performance in by-elections in the past 18 months. There is no sign here of any recovery in Tory fortunes. Eighteen months ago, Ukip’s 18 per cent share would have been regarded as remarkable. That today it might even be thought of as a bit of a disappointment – the party secured more than 20 per cent in the previous three by-elections – is testament to how far it has come in a short time. Even so, the result is a reminder that although the party may be capable of overtaking the Tories in Labour territory, it remains a long way from being able to threaten Labour’s tenure in such seats. The party complained that because many voters now post their ballot papers long before polling day it is more difficult for it to profit from any last-minute surge it generates.

But that did not stop Ukip winning the equivalent of 25 per cent of the national vote in the local elections last May and seems unlikely to obstruct whatever progress it manages to make in the Euro elections this coming May. Whatever disappointment Nigel Farage might have felt would, however, have been nothing like the pain that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg must have experienced.

The 17.4-point drop in his party’s vote was the biggest fall in the Liberal Democrat or Liberal share of the vote in any post-war by-election, just edging out the 17.2 drop it suffered up the road in Manchester Central in November 2012. The Lib Dems have been trying desperately to restore their credibility in voters’ eyes by increasingly picking fights with their Tory coalition partners.

As yet, however, there is no sign that this strategy is working – and time is beginning to run out for Mr Clegg and his colleagues.





