Preston 2000

Results Click to return to Homepage Complete table of results Labour’s win branded ‘hollow victory’ Labour held on to power in the Preston by-election last night but its opponents denounced the result as a “hollow victory”. The Labour candidate Mark Hendrick won but his party’s share of the vote dipped from more than 60 per cent in 1997 to 45.7 per cent - a total of 9,765 votes.

This showed a nine per cent swing away from Labour. Mr Hendrick’s nearest rival Graham O’Hare (Conservative) took 24.9 per cent (5,339 votes), while third-placed Bill Chadwick (Lib-Dem) polled 16.7 per cent (3,454 votes). Voter turn-out however, dropped from more than 65 per cent in 1997 to just under 30 per cent. Mr Hendrick, speaking after the result was declared, said he was “honoured” to be elected MP for the town.

“I’m proud to serve as MP for Preston - it is a great town with a great future, and I will do my best to represent Preston first”. He said the town’s prosperity is increasing and he is now in a position to further the work he started as its former MEP.

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But a vocal minority at the count accused Mr Hendrick of being a “New Labour puppet”. At one point Mr Hendrick, quoting the late Labour leader John Smith, said: “All I ask is the opportunity to serve.” He added: “This government has served,” to which hecklers responded, “Served the rich!” Conservative candidate Mr O’Hare meanwhile said that while he had lost the seat, electors had assured him that it was “great to be a Tory in this town”. He said: “Let it be clear, this has been a hollow victory for Labour.” Support for the Tories, he added, indicated Lancashire’s electorate was swinging away from the government.

Mr Chadwick echoed his Conservative counterpart, saying that: “this indeed is a hollow victory for Labour”, adding that the cabinet ministers who came to Preston during the campaign had done nothing to alter that. However, shortly before the count was announced Chadwick confessed to being “very disappointed” with his own performance.

He added: “In politics you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth … but we’ve consolidated our position and moved into areas of the town which before have always been Labour bastions.” A Conservative spokesman said the low turnout at the polls indicated the electorate’s “disillusionment” with the Labour government and with politics in general. w top Full results table CANDIDATE PARTY VOTES PERCENTAGE Hendrick, Mark Labour 9,765 45.7 O’Hare Graham Conservative 5,339 24.9 Chadwick, Bill Lib Dem 3,454 16.7 Cartwright, Terry LSA 1,210 5.6 Beaman, Greg UKIP 458 2.1 Merrick, Richard Green 441 2 Garrett, Peter PA 416 1.9 Jackson, Chris BNP 229 1 Franklin-Braid, David BBCA 51 0.2 w top

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