IT HAS not been much remarked on, but the collapse of the Lib Dem vote in last month’s Spitalfields by-election on Tower Hamlets Council was quite extraordinary.
The Lib Dems have been in trouble for some years in East London. But there is no doubt they experienced a significant bounce in Bethnal Green & Bow in last May’s elections where they came second. They were also in second place in Spitalfields ward.
However, in last month’s by-election, they slumped to fifth place behind the Greens, only a handful of votes ahead of the bottom placed independent and with just a 2.2 percent share of the vote.
There can be no doubt this is the product of the catastrophic decision to prop up the Tories in the Coalition government at Westminster and to break their promises on tuition fees. The lesson will not be lost on the electorate that a vote for a party which posed as more radical than Labour will turn out to be a vote for the Tories.
Rob Hoveman
Tower Hamlets Respect Party
Gascoigne Place
Bethnal Green
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