So will Barnsley Central be the next by-election?
| Barnsley General election result | Party | Votes | % | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Illsley | Labour | 17487 | 47.3 | -10.4 |
| Christopher Wiggin | Liberal Democrat | 6394 | 17.3 | -2 |
| Piers Tempest | Conservative | 6388 | 17.3 | 2.5 |
| Ian Sutton | British National Party | 3307 | 8.9 | 4.4 |
| David Silver | UK Independence Party | 1727 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| Donald Wood | Independent | 732 | 2 | 2 |
| Tony Devoy | Independent | 610 | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Terry Robinson | Socialist Labour Party | 356 | 1 |
1
|
And will Labour’s ratings continue to be untouched?
Today at Southwark Crown Court the only sitting MP to face charges from the expenses scandal, Eric Illsley, pleaded guilty and so paved the way for a possibly by-election – the second of this parliament.
If he receives a jail sentence of a year or more than he’ll cease to be an MP thus opening the way for a new contest. The court will give its ruling on this in four weeks.
On the face of it the seat looks a copper-bottomed Labour hold and the only interest might be from the BNP. The table above shows what happened last May.
So far Labour’s position has hardly been touched by all of this – it’s old news from when a different regime was in charge. Is that going to continue? Probably.