LABOUR’S supporters deserted it in droves as the party crashed to defeat in the council by-elections this week.
The Liberal Democrat Sharon Wilson scored a victory at Poulton North, Warrington Borough, taking nearly three times Labour’s vote in the ward. In May the Liberal Democrats won by a far narrower margin.
The victory has led to optimism among Lib Dems that they can repeat last election’s victories over Labour next time round, with the Lib Dem chief executive Lord Rennard commenting that the party constituted Labour’s main challengers in many of their former heartlands.
Labour also suffered in their former stronghold of Pill, North Somerset, which was snatched by the independent Nanette Kirsen.
Some Labour supporters have given warning of a voting slump in next May’s polls if Tony Blair has not quit as Prime Minister before then.
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Labour’s only consolation was that the Tories finished third and fourth in the two contests.