Rotherham: second, Middlesbrough: second, Croydon: third

Yesterday's by-elections in Rotherham, Middlesbrough and Croydon North saw fantastic results for UKIP with two second's and a third.

In Rotherham UKIP's Jane Collins came a very strong second, head and shoulders above the rest of the pack and securing almost half the Labour vote.  To put this into context, Rotherham has returned a Labour MP at every single election since 1933.  The worrying result in Rotherham is that three extremist parties took third, fourth and sixth places - the BNP, Respect and the English Democrats (that said, I know the former-Lib Dem who stood for the English Democrats and he has no truck with the extremist element of his party).  The Lib Dems (remember them?) came an embarrassing eighth with less than 10% of the UKIP vote and lost their deposit.  The turnout was just 33.8% which is appalling for a mid-term by-election and suggests Labour voters stayed at home to punish their party.

Rotherham
Lab	9,966
UKIP	4,648
BNP	1,804
Respect	1,778
Con	1,157
Eng Dem	703
Simon Copley	582
Lib Dem	451
Trade Union & Socialist	281
Paul Dickson	51
EDL	29
Turnout: 33.8%

In Middlesbrough UKIP's Richard Elvin came second, some 318 votes clear of the third-placed Lib Dem and 927 votes clear of the Tory candidate.  Middlesbrough is another safe Labour seat and Labour candidate Andy McDonald secured over 60% of the vote.  The Tory only managed to beat the fringe Peace Party candidate by 3 votes.

Middlesbrough
Lab	10,201
UKIP	1,990
Lib Dem	1,672
Con	1,063
Peace	1,060
BNP	328
Trade Union & Socialist	277
Mark Heslehurst	275
Turnout: 25.9%

In Croydon North UKIP's Winston McKenzie managed a comfortable third, 540 votes clear of the Lib Dem candidate and 2,737 votes behind the second-placed Tory.  Labour retained this safe seat with an increased majority.

Croydon North
Lab	15,898
Con	4,137
UKIP	1,400
Lib Dem	860
Green	855
Respect	707
Christian Peoples' Alliance	192
National Front	161
Communist	119
Loony	110
911 Was an Inside Job	66
Young Peoples' Party	63
Turnout: 26.4%

Vote UKIP in Rotherham, Croydon and Middlesbrough

UKIP is contesting three by-elections tomorrow in Rotherham, Croydon and Middlesbrough.

The highest profile is of course the Rotherham by-election where Jane Collins was already expected to rock the boat before the child snatchers at Rotherham social services took three children off their foster parents because they were UKIP members.  UKIP has gone up in the polls, bookies have shortened the odds of a UKIP win and the party received 750 new membership applications over the last few days.  It seems slightly distasteful to be profiting from the misfortune of three innocent children and their foster parents but this is the reaction of the general public, it's not been planned or instigated by the party and if it means we get a UKIP MP to help stop this sort of thing happening again then at least something positive has come out of it.  Rotherham has been Labour since 1930 and this vacancy only came up because their previous troughing Labour MP, Denis McShane, admitted stealing from the taxpayer.

Richard Elvin is UKIP's candidate for Middlsebrough, another pretty safe Labour seat which has become vacant following the death of the incumbent Labour MP, Sir Stuart Bell.

The final candidate is Winston McKenzie who is standing in Croydon North.  This is another Labour seat which has become vacant after the incumbent Labour MP, Malcolm Wicks, died.  Winston hit the news this week for his stupid comments on gay adoption which he has since withdrawn and which has led to him being removed from his post as a UKIP spokesman.  Despite his antiquated views on gay adoption Winston is a passionate campaigner, an energising speaker and committed community worker.

Second place for UKIP in Barnsley!

Being a member of a "minority" party isn't easy at times.  You look with envy at how easy it is for the LibLabCon to win elections with frankly very little effort, the way they have thousands of people who would literally vote for a chimp if it wore the right colour rosette.

For today, at least, I'm going to have to ask some other people to remind me what that's like because UKIP's Jane Collins came SECOND in yesterday's Barnsley by-election.

No matter what I write here, it won't convey the importance of this result or reflect the unbelievable amount of effort Jane and her fellow UKIP activists put in in Barnsley over the last few weeks to secure UKIP's biggest ever election success.  After almost a decade of blogging, it's not very often I find myself stuck for words.

Not going to be on Nick
Clegg's Christmas card list

The results are:

Labour	14,724	60.8%
UKIP	2,953	12.2%
Conservative	1,999	8.3%
BNP	1,463	6.0%%
Independent (Tony Devoy)	1,266	5.2%
Lib Dem	1,012	4.2%
Eng Dem	544	2.2%
Monster Raving Loony Party	198	0.8%
Independent (Michael Val Davies)	60	0.2%

In the comments of this post on Bloggers4UKIP last week, the CEO of the polling company, Survation, suggested that the Lib Dems could conceivably come fifth with a UKIP third and fourth.  As it happens the Lib Dems came sixth and UKIP second but kudos to Survation, they were the only polling company to come close to predicting the result.

I'm so pleased with this result I think I'll buy cakes for the office to celebrate.  I think I'll get a special one for the token Lib Dem voter on the team.

It's "B" Day for Jane Collins

Barnsley goes to the polls today in the second by-election in the last few months to replace a thieving, corrupt LibLabCon politician.

Thieving Labour MP, Andrew Illsley, was convicted of making illegal expenses claims recently and so was removed from his seat.  Jane Collins - the daughter of a Yorkshire miner - is flying the UKIP banner in this by-election and according to the polling company Survation, is on target to knock the Limp Dims out of third place.

A third place for Jane would be a great success for UKIP who have been firmly established as the fourth party in the UK.  Recent local elections, Paul Nuttall's very strong performance in the Oldham East & Saddleworth by-election (caused by another thieving Labour MP, Phil Woolas, being convicted of stealing from the taxpayer) and a number of opinion polls have shown that UKIP is a rapidly rising force in domestic politics.

The people of Barnsley have a chance today to kick out the tired old corrupt politics of the LibLabCon and replace it with the new small government of UKIP.  They won't of course because most people in Barnsley would vote for one of the puppets of the Compare the Market adverts if it wore a red rosette.  But they are enough people in Barnsley who vote with their heads to give the LibLabCon the bloody nose it deserves.

Good luck Jane.

Third place for UKIP in Barnsley?

According to a poll for the Mail on Sunday, UKIP is on target to come third in the Barnsley by-election next week.

The poll by Survation has Labour way out in front with 63% of the vote, the Conservative & _Λ^European Unionist Party second with 13%, UKIP on 9%, the Limp Dims in fourth with 6%, "other" on 5% and the BNP in last with 4%.

Guido is currently leading with "Clegg Set To Be Humiliated by the Miner’s Daughter" referring, of course, to the UKIP candidate, Jane Collins.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Guido has a bit of a soft spot for UKIP as the only anti-establishment party that isn't full of racists and lunatics.

In December we were celebrating consolidating our fourth place position and inching closer to the Lib Dems, now we're snapping on their heels in a by-election.  I guess it's true what they say - give them enough rope and they'll hand themselves.

Jane Collins says No Votes for Prisoners

You can find out more about Jane Collins and the election campaign at the UKIP Barnsley website.

Hat-tip: Heaver