THE CHESHAM AND AMERSHAM BY-ELECTION - AN INTERESTING RESULT

 

          THE CHESHAM AND AMERSHAM BY-ELECTION - AN INTERESTING RESULT 

This was a previously safe Tory seat although the party had been haemorrhaging votes over the past two elections in 2017 and 2019.  The constituency's seemingly popular MP, one Cheryl Gillan, achieved 33,514 votes in 2017.  That equated to 60.7 per cent of the total votes cast.  In 2019 the lady attained 30,850 votes, equal to 55.4 per cent.  

Her death brought about last weeks by-election where the Tory candidate polled a miserable 13,489 votes (35.5 per cent)  coming second to the Liberal Democrats who are probably preparing for government. They certainly would be if the now somewhat discredited David Steel was still at the party's helm!

Often the second largest party nationally takes advantage of a mid-term opportunity, but Chesham and Amersham  is not what you'd call traditional Labour territory.   It is Bucks not Bolton, very little in the way of ferrets, cloth caps and ghettos.  It has green rolling countryside... or rather it has green rolling countryside that is being built upon at a vast rate of knots.  As elsewhere in the south-east of England, county councils are under extreme government pressure to build anywhere - everywhere!  We are fools, we destroy the very reasons people moved to these towns and villages in the first place.  There is no joined-up thinking in government policy regarding house-building, merely joined-up towns. 

The Tories may well poo-poo this result but the writing was on the wall during the recent local elections when they lost many council seats to the Lib-Dems.  The irony of that lies within that party's wider policies of  relaxing immigration and refugee laws should that 'bastion of Remainers' ever get into power.  How many houses would we need for them?   The country is steeling itself for the next invasion from Hong Kong, it's only a matter of time, and where do we put all of them - their offspring, their parents, their grandparents, their Aunt Fanny Hoo Poo who is once removed twice over in the family pecking order but cannot be left behind!

This constituency is also suffering great upheaval and change brought about by the ridiculous HS2 project. Indeed, only today it was mentioned in the papers for no worse reason than its cost has just risen by another 1.6 billion pounds.  This is an added bone of contention to the local non-yokels and another reason for dissent, for protest, for voting tactically and giving a bloody nose to those who fail to listen.

Whilst the Lib-Dems crow their success it has to be noted that even though locally the party is against HS2, nationally they support it.  So what would happen if False God forbid, they ever did achieve power?  Well, national policy trumps local every time, so the destruction would continue - only with more allotted space for social housing.

What is significant is the dramatic fall in the Labour Party vote.  As mentioned above, it is not a 'Red Wall' area, but back in 2017 Labour amassed 11,374 votes (20.6 per cent) coming second, in 2019 their vote was 7,166 (12.9 per cent) coming third.  Last week they scrambled 622 votes, coming fourth after the Greens (1.1 per cent).  To rub salt into their unknown policy wounds the Labour Party ended up with less than half of the Green Party's haul of 1.480 votes (1.6 per cent), which in itself is pretty abysmal!

We have Batley and Spen, a true 'Red Wall' constituency by-election coming up next week.  'Ee by 'eck as like, that should make reet good reading and no mistake...  Now where's that ferret?