Lib Dems slump to seventh place in South Shields by-election
SENIOR Lib Dems admitted the party had been “obliterated” in the South Shields by-election after polling just 352 votes.
Nick Clegg’s party slumped to a humiliating seventh place in the poll triggered by the resignation of former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband.
Lib Dem candidate Hugh Annand took a dismal 1.42 per cent of votes cast. The party president Tim Farron said: “This was a shocking result. South Shields is one extreme where we have got little strength on the ground and have been obliterated."
Newly elected MP Emma Lewell-Buck, 34, became the first woman to represent the solidly Labour constituency. But Labour’s majority was down from 11,109 at the general election to 6,505.
Ukip came second with 5,988 votes, a 24.2 per cent share of the vote. The party’s deputy leader Paul Nuttall said: “We have been knocking on the door of Westminster for the past two years. I predict very soon that we will kick that door in.”
The Tories came third with 2,857 votes.