Oldham East & Saddleworth - good or bad result for UKIP?

Labour won yesterday's Oldham East & Saddleworth by-election with an increased majority.  The Limp Dims unexpectedly increased their majority as well whilst the Tories predictably lost vote share.

So how did UKIP do yesterday?  Was it a good result?  Paul Nuttall didn't win so that's a disappointment but he did retain his deposit with 5.8% of the vote - the only non-LibLabCon party that got more than the required 5% to get their £500 back.  UKIP got 2,029 votes compared to the 4,481 votes the Tories got - almost half as many as the party in government.  UKIP beat the BNP who only got 1,560 votes and missed out on retaining their deposit by half a percent.  The English Democrats, who were predicting giving UKIP a run for their money the other day, bombed and came 8th out of 10 behind the Monster Raving Loony Party.

So on balance, it was a disappointing result considering the unbelievable amount of effort that went into UKIP's campaign in Oldham East & Saddleworth but it was a good result.  Paul Nuttall retained his deposit, got half the Tory vote and beat the BNP.