The election was widely considered as a crucial test for Labourleader, Sir Keir Starmer, who has been under pressure for failing to get party back on track, reports Asian Lite News
The Labour Party on Friday gained a narrow victory in a battle for an open Parliament seat, after it failed miserably in the recent local polls.
The election was widely considered as a crucial test for the party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, who has been under pressure for failing to get party back.
The election was held following the resignation of the previous Member of Parliament Tracy Brabin, who was elected Mayor of West Yorkshire on 10 May.
Jo Cox's parents were filled with such pride for their daughter Kim today.
She faced down the politics of division with a campaign of hope.
Jo would be so proud of the way Kim embodies her legacy: "We have far more in common than that which divides us." pic.twitter.com/iUjWaRQcxQ
Sir Keir Starmer has declared “Labour is back” after the party held on at the Batley and Spen by-election, the BBC reported.
Starmer headed to the West Yorkshire constituency to celebrate Kim Leadbeater’s narrow 323-vote win. He said it was a victory for “hope over division, and decency over hatred”, after a bitter campaign, and “just the start” for Labour.
Leadbeater took the seat with 13,296 votes, giving her a slim victory over Mr Stephenson with 12,973. Leadbeater will now represent the seat previously held by her sister Jo Cox, who was murdered there in 2016.
Sir Keir hailed her “incredible courage” in standing for the seat, and claimed “Labour is coming home”, it was reported.
Writing in the Guardian, he also promised the by-election would be “a turning point, a sign that the politics of division and dishonesty won’t win out, that unity and decency can”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson ran an “incredibly positive campaign” and “did very well to reduce a longstanding Labour majority”.
Leadbeater took the seat with 13,296 votes, giving her a slim victory over Mr Stephenson with 12,973. (Source: twitter@kimleadbeater)
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Johnson claimed the by-election result was the “third biggest swing in favour of the government since the War”, it was reported.
Of the five states that comprise south India, three are ruled by regional parties, one has a Left-coalition dispensation, with only Karnataka having a fragile BJP government uneasily in place, reports Narendra Puppala
If the outcomes of various elections over the past few decades, till the recent Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are any indication, south of the Vindhyas, the electoral arena remains a minefield for mainstream national parties, read the BJP and Congress.
Of the five states that comprise south India, three are ruled by regional parties, one has a Left-coalition dispensation, with only Karnataka having a fragile BJP government uneasily in place.
While the Congress continues to lose prominence across the country, its situation has been particularly precarious down south, long considered its citadel. The slow slide to inconsequence began in Tamil Nadu with the party succumbing to the anti-Hindi stance that continues to this day.
Thereafter, in the eighties, fuelled by filmstar-turned-politician NT Rama Rao’s Telugu Pride, the then state of Andhra Pradesh showed the door to the Congress. Post-bifurcation, the party has made way for regional parties in Andhra Pradesh as well as the fledgling state of Telangana. For a change, the Congress has managed to be on the winning side in Tamil Nadu, but it lost the Kerala polls for the second time in a row.
Bihar BJP workers .
The story is not very different for the BJP, ruling the roost at the Centre, and a host of states in the north, west, and eastern parts of the country. With negligible presence for decades, the south remains a tough nut to crack for the BJP. Although the saffron party did make inroads with successes in Karnataka, it has lost steam and continues to steer a leaking ship through the choppy waters of an unconvincing majority in the Assembly.
Compared to states like Tripura and Assam in the East, the BJP has had a lacklustre performance in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. While it drew a blank in Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls in 2019, the BJP’s graph in neighbouring Telangana has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Bolstered by its wins in Dubbaka Assembly poll and Hyderabad municipal polls, the BJP is preparing to squarely take on the ruling TRS in the next Assembly election. While Telangana is its most promising arena in the south, the reverses it suffered in Bengal polls should give the BJP some food for thought.
Despite high expectations, the party ended up losing even the sole Assembly seat it had won in the previous Kerala election. To its credit, the BJP has won four seats, making a comeback in the newly-constituted Tamil Nadu Assembly after 20 years. But with a distinctly Dravidian party at the helm, there is little that the BJP can expect to achieve here in the foreseeable future.
So, what really are the reasons for the national parties’ lack of traction in the South?
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal and A.K. Antony during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting (IANS)
For starters, the southern states have had a strong tradition of throwing up homegrown leaders. From Karunanidhi, MGR, Jayalalithaa, NTR, KCR, and Jagan Mohan Reddy all have built up their votebanks assiduously. All of them are accessible in the vicinity rather than faraway Delhi. In fact, the BJP’s success story in Karnataka wouldn’t have been possible without Chief Minister B.S. Yediurappa, another homegrown leader.
In the Congress, a culture of subservience to the family has effectively killed local leadership. For the BJP it is a case of not having sufficiently large mass base. Unfortunately for the BJP, the process of building up local leadership is a slow and labourious process that cannot be substituted by wholesale imports from other parties. It needs to plan for a long-term future rather than the immediate future.
The second factor that is a stumbling block in the BJP’s expansion plans in the south, has to do with demographics.
Compared to the other three parts, the communal composition is not so pronounced in the south. Therefore, sharp polarisation on religious or cultural lines is not easy. The Congress has seemingly hit a wall, apparently not a favourite with youngsters who make up the major share of the electorate. According to social scientists, rising urbanisation and education levels have also majorly affected the party’s fortunes at the hustings.
Most importantly, it is the presence of a strong local sentiment in each of these states, wary of being swept away by a north Indian wave. This is precisely why regional parties thrive, and pose challenges for the national parties. A trend that is likely to sustain for at least the next few election cycles.
Heavyweights Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sushil Modi, Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane and Bhupender Yadav could be part of the massive reshuffle of the Union Cabinet reportedly imminent, reports Asian Lite News
With the all-party meeting on J&K done and dusted, the impending Cabinet reshuffle has once again gathered pace. As many as 27 probables, including heavyweights Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sushil Modi, Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane and Bhupender Yadav could be part of the massive reshuffle of the Union Cabinet reportedly imminent.
The new ministers in the Narendra Modi government, who are likely to be sworn in include former Congress heavyweight from Madhya Pradesh, Scindia, who is now in the BJP; former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi; senior BJP organisational heavyweights party general secretary, Bhupender Yadav from Rajasthan and Kailash Vijayvargiya, from Madhya Pradesh, who was in charge of the BJP campaign in West Bengal. BJP spokesperson and minority face Syed Zafar Islam is also tipped for a central government role.
Also on the master list are former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane, besides, Maharashtra Beed MP Pritam Munde and Gopinath Munde’s daughter is on the reshuffle candidates list.
From Uttar Pradesh which is headed for ‘make or break’ elections for the BJP next year, BJP UP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, a certainty; Pankaj Chaudhary, MP from Maharajganj, Varun Gandhi, and alliance partner, Anupriya Patel are among the probables.
Rajya Sabha MP Anil Jain, Odisha MPs, Ashwini Vaishnaw and former Baijayant Panda; former Railway Minister from Bengal Dinesh Trivedi are also on the list. Jain is also President of the All India Tennis Association.
There is a sizeable contingent from Rajasthan, including former Union Minister in Modi government P.P. Choudhry, youngest MP from Rajasthan hailing from Churu, Rahul Kaswan and Sikar MP Sumedhanand Saraswati.
Jyotiraditya Scindia
The lone entrant from Delhi will be New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi.
Amid the significant churn in Bihar, Pasupati Paras who rebelled against Chirag Paswan is likely getting a central berth from LJP, as are JDU nominations R.C.P. Singh and Santosh Kumar.
Karnataka may well be represented by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Gujarat BJP President C.R. Patil is moving to the government along with Ahmedabad West MP Kirit Solaki.
From Haryana, Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal, a former Income Tax officer is also among the probables. Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal who impressed with his Parliament speech is also being considered.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (PIB)
The reshuffle is being necessitated by some vacancies caused due to untimely deaths like Ram Vilas Paswan and Suresh Angadi and exits of Akali Dal and Shiv Sena.
Many ministers are saddled with multiple portfolios due the deaths and exits. Upcoming elections in UP are a factor in the reshuffle and also the need to add some heft to government with the entry of Bhupender Yadav, a strong organisational face.
Since PM Modi came back to power in 2019, this will be the first such reshuffle cum expansion.
The announcement was made by Dr Abdullah after the PAGD meeting, which was held here at the Gupkar Road residence of the NC patron….reports Asian Lite News
Mainstream political leaders who are part of the Peoples alliance for Gupkar declaration (PAGD), said on Tuesday that they will be attending the all party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24.
The announcement was made by Dr Abdullah after the PAGD meeting, which was held here at the Gupkar Road residence of the NC patron.
“Since all of us are part of our political parties and we have received individual invitations, it has, therefore, been decided today that all of us will go and attend the Prime Minister’s meeting”, Dr Abdullah said.
He added that there is no fixed agenda for the June 24 meeting and all of us are free to voice our demands and feelings.
M.Y. Tarigami, the CPI-M leader, who has also been invited to PM’s meeting told the media, “We will not ask for the stars. We will only appeal to the Prime Minister to restore to us what is guaranteed by the Constitution”.
Muzaffar Shah, leader of Awami National Conference, said there is no change in the PAGD demand for restoration of statehood and the special status to J&K and this demand is non-negotiable.
Mehbooba Mufti said since the PAGD has decided that the invitation by the Prime Minister is on individual basis, she would also attend the meeting personally.
At least 14 mainstream political leaders including four former chief ministers, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Ghulam Nabi Azad are among the invitees to the PM’s all party meeting.
Others include, Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference, Syed Altaf Bukhari of JK Apni Party, Professor Bhim Singh of J&K Panthers Party and others belonging to the BJP and the Congress in the UT.
Three central ministers, home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and MoS (PMO) Jitendra Singh, will also attend the June 24 meeting to be held at the Lok Kalyan Marg residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Interestingly, Prime Minister Modi’s invite to the J&K politicians has gone out on 19 June 2021, exactly three years after the PDP President Mehbooba was removed as Chief Minister, the Assembly was placed in suspended animation and the erstwhile State was brought under Governor’s rule on 19 June 2018, reports Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
For the first time after the June 2018 breakdown of the PDP-BJP government and imposition of the Governor’s/President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited the Union Territory’s mainstream politicians for a meeting at his residence in New Delhi. The invitation has been delivered telephonically to at least 14 leaders — including four former Chief Ministers and heads of all the major parties — by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Saturday, 19 June.
According to knowledgeable sources, the roundtable meeting to be attended among others by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, would begin at 3.00 pm on Thursday, 24 June, with no specific agenda. However, much of the deliberations are presumed to remain focused on holding of the Assembly elections and restoration of Statehood which have collectively surfaced as the two key demands of different political parties after termination of J&K’s special status and bifurcation into the two UTs.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which created the separate UTs of J&K and Ladakh, extended the rights of holding immovable properties, government jobs and scholarships to everybody holding a domicile certificate and applied most of the Central laws to Jammu and Kashmir, was tabled during the President’s rule on 5 August 2019 and passed with the majority vote in both Houses of the Parliament.
Interestingly, Prime Minister Modi’s invite to the J&K politicians has gone out on 19 June 2021�exactly three years after the PDP President Mehbooba was removed as Chief Minister, the Assembly was placed in suspended animation and the erstwhile State was brought under Governor’s rule on 19 June 2018. Finally, the Assembly was dissolved and the President’s rule was imposed in November 2018 after the political parties failed to form a new government of the elected representatives.
Nine months later, in August 2019, the BJP-led Central government engineered a tectonic shift in the erstwhile State’s organisation, breaking it into the two UTs of J&K and Ladakh. The special constitutional provisions of Article 370 and 35-A were abrogated and the legislature’s Upper House — Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council — was abolished.
While the UT of Ladakh, which had only four Assembly segments out of 87 in the erstwhile State, was created with no legislature, the UT of J&K retained the Legislative Assembly of 83 seats– 46 in Kashmir and 37 in Jammu�with provision of the addition of seven new segments.
The Election Commission of India’s Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice (retd.) Ranjana Desai, has been working on delimitation of the new constituencies since March 2020. The commission has been granted an extension of one year on 6 March 2021 and it is expected to complete its exercise in the next few months. Thereafter, the UT’s first Assembly elections would be conducted by the Election Commission of India, subject to an appropriate security scenario.
The Delimitation Commission has associated with itself as members all the five Lok Sabha members of the J&K UT�BJP’s Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma and National Conference’s Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Justice (retd.) Hasnain Masoodi. However, the NC’s MPs have not attended any meeting with the Commission, contending that their party had challenged legality the J&K Reorganisation Act in the Supreme Court of India and refused to accept the changes introduced by way of the August 2019 legislation and the Presidential orders invoked thereafter.
For the first time, early this month, Farooq Abdullah seemed to be relenting on the NC’s maximalist position when he asserted, following a working committee meeting of his party, that the J&K parties had not shut their doors to any offer of negotiations from the Centre. The NC’s change of heart is said to be the result of the ‘pressures within’ as most of the party’s leaders are believed to be in favour of contesting the next Assembly elections irrespective of achieving their proclaimed goal of the restoration of Article 370 and 35-A and J&K’s Statehood.
The new vibrations in the J&K parties, particularly in the NC, are widely being interpreted as acceptance of the August-2019 changes as fait accompli. Senior NC leaders are currently holding the view that boycott to the delimitation process and the forthcoming Assembly elections could render their party irrelevant as their traditional competitors, notably the Congress and the BJP, besides Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party (AP) and Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference (PC), seemed to be ‘impatient’ to fill up the vacuum and grab the power.
Remarkably, all the apprehensions of a fresh turmoil, clashes and violence in reaction to the August-2019 changeover have proved wrong as there has been no stone pelting, no street turbulence in Kashmir in the last 22 months.
Top NC and PDP leaders had initially resorted to an extremely tough posturing, ruling out participation in any elections until ‘complete withdrawal of the changes made in August 2019 and thereafter and restoration of all that has been snatched away illegally from Jammu and Kashmir’. On more than one occasion, former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti had asserted that they would not be associating with any democratic exercise until achieving the objectives of the post-2018 alliance called �Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration’ (PAGD).
The PAGD had been formed as a conglomerate of seven mainstream political parties after Mehbooba Mufti’s release from a prolonged detention in 2020. Restoration of Article 370 and 35-A besides restoration of Statehood was its key demand. In October 2020, Congress broke away from the PAGD but six parties�with the NC and the PDP at the front�contested the District Development Council (DDC) elections as an alliance against the BJP and the AP. Out of 280, it bagged 109 seats. Among the individual parties, the BJP stood first with 75 seats and the NC second with 67.
After the Congress party’s departure, the PAGD suffered a major setback in January 2021 when Lone’s PC moved out over the issue of �proxy candidates’ in the DDC elections. Significantly, there was no PAGD meeting after the DDC election results were declared on 22 December 2020. The first meeting of the alliance later took place at Mehbooba’s residence on 9 June, 2021. Farooq asserted after the meeting that the J&K parties had not shut their doors on the Centre.
Significantly again, Farooq, Omar and Mehbooba have diluted their posturing and stopped issuing rhetorical statements, interviews and tweets in the last over two months. Omar, in particular, has ignored most of the political developments and dedicated his Twitter handle to amplification of the Covid-related issues. The frequency of the two former Chief Ministers’ anti-BJP, anti-Centre rhetoric has drastically reduced in the last 8 weeks.
There have been terse reactions with many in the social media asking how Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah would be accommodating and hosting the same Kashmiri politicians whom they used to project as �anti-national, pro-separatist and pro-Pakistan’ until recently. Some are particularly mentioning Shah’s thread of tweets on 17 November 2020 in which he had repeatedly called the PAGD as �the Gupkar Gang’.
But many of the serious political analysts are counting it as the BJP-led Centre’s achievement that the Kashmiri leaders had begun to accept abrogation of Article 370 as fait accompli. They are pointing out that these leaders’ main demand now is the restoration of Statehood which is Shah’s own commitment to the Parliament on 5 August 2019.
“In the past, all of New Delhi’s offers, invitations, talks and negotiations were only for the separatists, for the Hurriyat and the militants�in other words for Pakistan and her terrorists. This is for the first time that the Centre is completely ignoring the separatists and negotiating with only the mainstream politicians elected by the people in the past and sworn-in to uphold India’s sovereignty and integrity in J&K”, observed a Delhi-based commentator. He claimed that the participation of the Kashmiri politicians in the delimitation process and the Assembly elections would be a ‘game changer’ as it would lend legitimacy to the Indian narrative across the world and leave Pakistan and the militants with no locus standi.
(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
The former speaker said that despite Johnson’s professed commitment to “levelling up”, he has no interest in those less privileged than himself….reports Asian Lite News.
The former speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and announced he has left the Conservatives to join the opposition Labour Party.
In an explosive interview with the Observer, Bercow says he termed today’s Conservative party as “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic”.
Bercow, who stepped down as Speaker in 2019 after 10 years, says he joined the Labour party a few weeks ago because he now shares its values and sees it as the only means to removing the current Tory government from office, reported the Guardian quoting the interview.
“I am motivated by support for equality, social justice and internationalism. That is the Labour brand,” Bercow was quoted as saying.
“The conclusion I have reached is that this government needs to be replaced. The reality is that the Labour party is the only vehicle that can achieve that objective. There is no other credible option.”
The former speaker said that despite Johnson’s professed commitment to “levelling up”, he has no interest in those less privileged than himself. He also describes as “utterly shameful” the government’s decision to cut international aid.
He also said Johnson was a successful campaigner but a lousy governor.
“I don’t think he has any vision of a more equitable society, any thirst for social mobility or any passion to better the lot of people less fortunate than he is. I think increasingly people are sick of lies, sick of empty slogans, sick of a failure to deliver,” the Guardian quoted his words from the interview.
Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh on Saturday announced Sharma’s appointment along with other organisational appointments….reports Asian Lite News
Appointment of former bureaucrat A.K. Sharma as Vice President of the Uttar Pradesh BJP has come as a surprise to many in the party and government. Till last week, there was a strong buzz across Lucknow and New Delhi that Sharma could be inducted into the Yogi Adityanath government.
With te appointment of Sharma to the party post, there is an indication that the proposed reshuffle in Adityanath cabinet is likely to be delayed or might not take place at all
Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh on Saturday announced Sharma’s appointment along with other organisational appointments.
A BJP leader, who is part of organisational activities, said: “For hours, I was completely unaware about Sharma’s appointment. There was discussion at different levels about the appointment of Morcha Chiefs, which was also done yesterday, but appointment of new Vice President has come as a surprise to me and many others in the party.”
Another Uttar Pradesh BJP leader said that the entrusting organisational responsibility to Sharma has now ended the speculation that he could be given an important portfolio in the Adityanath cabinet ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls.
Sharma, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer, had worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for nearly two decades both in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office and Prime Minister’s Office.
In January this year, Sharma took voluntary retirement, joined the BJP, and became a Member of Legislative Council in Uttar Pradesh.
A Minister in the Adityanath government said that with Sharma given responsibility of organisational work, there is a question mark on the Adityanath cabinet expansion or reshuffle.
“Now, it seems that all speculation about cabinet reshuffle has been put to rest. Cabinet reshuffle may be delayed or might not take place,” the Minister said.
However, a senior functionary in Uttar Pradesh BJP claims that there was no plan or discussion about inducting Sharma in the Adityanath government and it was just speculation.
“Cabinet expansion or making Sharma a minister in Uttar Pradesh was not part of discussion during the Chief Minister’s recent Delhi visit,” he claimed.
Former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti has confirmed that she has received a formal invitation from New Delhi for the meeting scheduled on June 24…reports Asian Lite News
Amid reports that New Delhi is extending invitation to all mainstream political parties in J&K, former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti confirmed on Saturday that she has received the invitation while NC patron, Dr Farooq Abdullah said he is yet to receive it.
Former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti has confirmed that she has received a formal invitation from New Delhi for the meeting scheduled on June 24.
“Yes, I got a phone call from Delhi inviting me for a meeting on June 24. The meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi”, Mehbooba told reporters.
She, however, added that she hasn’t decided yet whether she would attend the meeting.
Dr Farooq Abdullah told some reporters that he hadn’t received any invitation from Delhi so far.
“Once we receive such invitation, we will meet to decide the strategy to be adopted regarding the invitation”, Dr Abdullah told reporters.
Sources close to People’s Conference chief, Sajad Lone told IANS that he has also received the invitation to attend the June 24 meeting.
CPI-M leader, M.Y. Tarigami said he has so far received no formal or informal invitation from Delhi regarding the meeting.
Tarigami has said that sources in Delhi have confirmed to him that all mainstream leaders of J&K would be invited to attend the proposed meeting.
J&K Apni Party chief, Syed Altaf Bukhari said, “Solution to J&K’s problems lies in New Delhi. We have stated openly that we have a relation with Delhi.”
“Solution to J&K’s problems lies in New Delhi and not in Islamabad, New York or London. Delhi’s invitation to J&K’s political parties is a welcome development”.
Bukhari sarcastically added that all these parties called Apni Party the King’s party so far. “Now who is the king’s party?” he said.
He added that since job security and security to own land has been restored to people of J&K through the good offices of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, statehood would also be restored in future.
Raisi, who has been the Chief Justice since 2019, has formerly held several other posts in the country judicial branch following the 1979 Islamic Revolution…reports Asian Lite News
Ebrahim Raisi, the incumbent Chief Justice of Iran, has won the country’s presidential election by a landslide, according to preliminary results released on Saturday by the Interior Ministry.
Deputy Interior Minister Jamal Orf said 28.6 million Iranians participated in Friday’s election, and with around 90 per cent of the votes counted so far, Raisi has garnered over 17.8 million ballots, reports Press TV.
In the second place was Mohsen Rezaei, a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and current secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, with 3.3 million ballots.
Meanwhile, former Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Nasser Hemmati garnered 2.4 million votes, and conservative MP Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi won almost one million votes, the Ministry figures revealed.
Orf added that vote counting was still ongoing an official announcement will be made later.
Tehran, May. 27, 2020 (Xinhua) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses the opening session of Iran’s new parliament in Tehran, Iran, on May 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz/IANS)
Raisi, who has been the Chief Justice since 2019, has formerly held several other posts in the country judicial branch following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Although associated with the Principlist camp, Raisi said he ran in the election this year as an independent.
He was campaigning with the slogan “Popular Administration, Strong Iran” aimed at uprooting corruption in the executive branch, fighting poverty, creating jobs and containing inflation.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Amanda Milling said voters’ concerns were “loud and clear” after the Lib Dem won the Chesham and Amersham by-election.
The Conservative government has been sent a “warning shot” by voters over planning reforms for England and the HS2 rail link, the co-chairman of the party Amanda Milling has said.
The byelection saw a historic 25% swing to Liberal Democrats, enabling their newest MP Sarah Green to overturn a 16,000-majority in a constituency that had been Conservative since it was created in 1974, the Guardian reported.
Sarah Green won with 8,028 more votes than the Conservatives, with the Green Party in third place. Labour had the worst by-election result in the party’s history, with 622 votes, the BBC reported.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, as quoted by BBC, Amanda Milling said voters’ concerns were “loud and clear” after the Lib Dems won the Chesham and Amersham by-election. She said the Conservatives would look at how they could regain their trust.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Pic Andrew Parsons No 10, Downing Street)
Milling says: “I am in no doubt that Thursday’s result is a warning shot and we are listening. And as co-chairman, I will ensure that we learn the lessons from this campaign.”
According to BBC report, local opposition to the HS2 high-speed rail line being built through the constituency and the government’s proposed changed to the planning system, which could see more homes being built in rural areas, were major factors in the poll.
Downing Street came under renewed pressure to ditch Johnson’s controversial planning reforms, which many blamed for the humiliating loss of the Buckinghamshire seat.
In her article, Milling says: “Over the coming weeks and months, we will take stock of what happened in Chesham and Amersham and look at how we can regain the trust of voters there.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey
Addressing concerns the government’s focus on the so-called former red wall seats in the Midlands and North of England has left people in traditional “blue wall” Tory areas feeling left behind, Milling says the prime minister’s levelling up agenda “was a promise to people – North, South, East and West – to help them take the opportunities that our country and government can provide”, BBC reported.
Many Conservative MPs remain opposed to the plans and are using the by-election defeat to argue for a rethink before the government publishes draft legislation.
Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the result for his party as “disappointing”.
Appearing alongside Green at a victory rally in the Buckinghamshire constituency, Sir Ed Davey quoted as saying by BBC: “This is a great result, a huge swing to us. There are many Conservatives across the country who are now worried.
“People have been talking about a red wall, well after Chesham and Amersham and Sarah Green’s victory they’ll be talking about a blue wall, and how the Lib Dems are the main threat to the Conservatives.
“People here felt ignored and taken for granted, and we listened. Sarah Green is going to take these concerns to Parliament and hold this appalling Tory government to account,” he was quoted as saying.
