Tory vote halved and the Lib Dems drop from 2nd to 6th and lose their deposit. Time for the coalition to listen perhaps?

BBC clicky

I'd like to think so, but they won't.

Cleggy is already on record, saying that it's a Labour stronghold and nobody esle was ever likely to get in.

True, but isn't a reduction of the LD share of the vote, from 17% down to 4%, worth evaluating?

13% more people in that area do not approve of your party, it's part in the coalition or the decision to betray the people who voted LD because they were a) fed up with Labour and b) couldn't stomach the thought of the Tories being in power.

LibDems dropped below the BNP, and the Tories got fewer votes than UKIP, who came in second. It was a pasting, but not something that will be heeded.

Local elections next month.

Well no one expected anyone other than Labour to win and no one expects the government to do well in by elections. The big shock was that the LD’s lost so much of their vote.

Partly due to the fact that at the last election (General) they were doing so well and Labour were doing badly. Also that they made a lot of extravagant promises (No Tuition fee increase) that they thought they would never have to actually deliver on. I think it was a shock to the LD’s that they have got into power

It is far easier being in opposition than in government. Just take the current labour party. They admit that they would have to make cuts but every time a cut is announced they say it’s an unfair cut but never come up with an alternative. IF the electorate didn’t still blame them (Lab) for the economic mess and Gordon Broon then they would probably be more popular than they are now

It's getting to be like the US here: 40 percent vote for one party, irrespective of their policies, but because they've always voted for them and their parents and their parents before them. 40% vote for the other party for the same reasons. It's the 20% who actually take note of whats going on that decide who gets in. It's just a shame that the Government isn't paid on performance, bit just for turning up a few times a month.

Turnout was poor - only 36.5%

Now if there was something like PR or AV the turnout might have been much better,

Why bother to turnout to vote when under the current system you know who will win anyway?

Doubt they'll listen. Barnsley has always been a red town.

So all they need now is a red party.

Incumbent parties get a pasting.

Big Wup™

Lot of public sector workers there. As a friend said to me today - turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.

At last, a Labour policy that actually worked!!! Swell the public sector and buy yourself millions of votes!!

This would be so if the 80% were evenly spread. But there must be at least 33% of constituencies that are so heavily loaded with voters from one or other of the 40% clubs that they are 80% less likely to swing in an election than the statistical norm, and another 33% that would take a large swing, leaving 34% of constituencies balanced enough to actually change hands in a normal election. This means that only 34% of the 20% have real influence in the normal state of affairs. So 6.8% of voters have any actual influence.

But it's ok, we'll have AV soon, that will probably bring the number up to respectable 7.3%*



* please give generously to Statistics in Need; every day 47% of numbers are brutally misused. You can help us today by cooking up some maths to justify my spurious AV estimate. Remember, charity is always divisible by 3.