Respect break through in Leicester and Birmingham

international | politics / elections | press release Friday July 16, 2004 16:12 by Respect supporter

Bliar suffered a dramatic rejection by the voters of Leicester South and Birmingham Hodge Hill on Thursday night.

In Leicester South they lost a 13,000 majority to the Lib Dems posing as an anti-war party. In Hodge Hill their majority was reduced by 11,000 to just 460.

And Michael Howard's Tories came a humiliating third in both seats.

Meanwhile Respect, just six months old and with just a couple of weeks to campaign in, got spectacular and unprecedented votes in both seats.

In Leicester South, Yvonne Ridley received 3,724 votes, a 12.66% share of the vote. In Hodge Hill, John Rees received 1,282 votes, a 6.27% share of the vote. In both elections Respect was a very clear fourth.

These are quite extraordinary results by any standards. It is without precedent in recent political history for a minor party to do so well in two simultaneous by-elections and this was in the face of the mobilisation of the political machines of all three of the major parties.

The Lib Dems in particular ran an intensive campaign to try and squeeze Respect's votes in the final week of the campaigns. It is remarkable that so much of our vote resisted these pressures.

This is the boost Respect needed to begin to establish itself as a serious challenger. No longer will the media be able to pretend we don't exist and there has been much grudging acknowledgement of our achievement in the final stages of the campaign and with the announcement of the results.

Respect is enormously grateful for the very hard work many members and supporters put in in both campaigns. Our next electoral challenge will be the council by-election in St. Dunstans and Stepney Green ward, Tower Hamlets, on 29th July where Oliur Rahman is standing for Respect.