ASHFIELD

Ashfield has had one change to it's boundary's which is to bring in a labour ward in from the neighbouring seat of Broxtowe. You will see how the Labour vote has collapsed from the highs 65% in 1997 to 48% in 2005 and even lower in this years euro elections, just over 20%.

Ashfield has a long tradition of having varying candidates stand, as you can see from the list in 2005 and 2001.

2005
Labour Geoff Hoon 20,433 48.6 -9.5
Conservative Giles Inglis-Jones 10,220 24.3 -0.1
Liberal Democrat Wendy Johnson 5,829 13.9 +2.6
Ashfield Independents Roy Adkins 2,292 5.5 N/A
Independent Kate Allsop 1,900 4.5 N/A
Veritas Sarah Hemstock 1,108 2.6 N/A
Independent Eddie Grenfell 269 0.6 N/A
Majority 10,213 24.3
Turnout 42,051 57.3 +3

2001
Labour Geoff Hoon 22,875 58.1 -7.0
Conservative Julian Leigh 9,607 24.4 +4.2
Liberal Democrat Bill Smith 4,428 11.3 +1.6
Independent Charlie Harby 1,471 3.7 N/A
Socialist Alliance George Watson 589 1.5 N/A
Socialist Labour Katrina Howse 380 1.0 N/A
Majority 13,268 33.7
Turnout 39,350 53.6 -16.


1997
Conservative: 10251 (20.3%)
Labour: 32979 (65.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 4882 (9.6%)
Referendum: 1896 (3.7%)
Other: 595 (1.2%)
Majority: 22728 (44.9%)


by election result from july this year

John Knight (Lab) 842
Michael Clarke (BNP) 722
Wendy Harvey (Ind) 597
James Thornton (Con) 445
Melvin Grant (Lib-Dem) 412
Dave Spalding (Ind) 174
BNP Percentage 22.6%

CLICK HERE for the back ground on this most recent by election, and how desperate Labour are getting in this once safe seat.

The results from this years euro elections for Ashfield

British National Party 4314 13%
Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship” 456
Conservative Party 5966
English Democrats Party 1144
Jury Team 189
Liberal Democrats 5230
No2EU: Yes to Democracy 326
Pro Democracy: Libertas.eu 219
Socialist Labour Party 515
The Green Party 1438
The Labour Party 6609
United Kingdom First 565
United Kingdom Independence Party 5000


Now this seat has been Labour since it's inception in 1955 bar a by election defeat to the Tories in 1977. As you can see the vote for Labour has collapsed and those gaining have not been the Tories or Lib Dems the people of Ashfield are always willing to try other parties. With this in mind and the high euro sceptic vote for the area, the BNP could become the tru opposition to Labour in this election campaign as shown in the recent by election.

CANDIDATES SO FAR DECLARED
BNP Edward Holmes
Jason Zadrozny (Liberal Democrat)
Garry Hickton (Conservative)
Geoff Hoon (Labour) current MP wonder if he will retire if he sees a fight for his seat and gets himself a healthy pension.