Whitwell on Bolsover

Last Local Election 2011: Lab 32, Ind 4, Green 1 (Labour majority of 25)

To view the result in 2011 please visit http://s3.datawrapper.de/BIZMe/

Dennis Skinner MP (Lab, Bolsover) has become as much of the Parliamentary Estate as Black Rod and the Speaker. Famed for his comments at each State Opening, is it any wonder that he has been named the “Beast of Bolsover” and was even immortalised in the CBBC comedy drama “Maid Marian and Her Merry Men” when the Beast of Bolsover (and his companion the “Nuisance of Nuneaton”) came into Worksop to make trouble. Whether it is Mr. Skinner’s parliamentary antics that help re-elect him each time or the solid hold on Bolsover by Labour is tricky to tell, but Labour’s hold on Bolsover is near total. In the 2003 local elections only six seats did not elect a Labour councillor, that figure increased to ten in 2007 (thanks in part to the decline in the Labour vote at Tony Blair’s last set of local elections), but normal service was resumed in 2011 when only five seats did not elect a Labour councillor, however as we have seen in the past having a virtual one party state does not mean that Labour can rest on their laurels (especially in a ward with a strong Ratepayer vote)