Tory success in Rochdale

Voters in the Rochdale borough reflected the national mood after a successful European election for the Conservative party.

The Tories won 8909 votes from the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale electorate, the highest in the borough, and they returned three MEPs for the North West.
 
Local Conservative Leader, Councillor Ashley Dearnley said: "It is a great result for the Conservatives in Rochdale and it dispells the myth that the Liberal Democrats have been pedalling for years that 'the Conservatives can not win in Rochdale'.

"Labour came second in Rochdale and the Liberal Democrats came third. Not only does that show that the voters are sick of this Labour Government, it shows they are sickened by the Liberal Democrats in Rochdale and their spin and lack of substance. Voters have shown both parties what they think of them.

"Now we need to get good parliamentary candidates for Rochdale and for Heywood and Middleton and there is no reason why we can not win those seats in a general election."

Labour lost a North West MEP on one of their worst ever election nights, with BNP leader Nick Griffin taking over the seat.

The Conservatives leapfrogged Labour and the Liberal Democrats on what was a sorry night for the other two major parties in Rochdale, with Labour's vote halved from 2004 and the Liberal Democrats slipping below Labour despite controlling the Council and the Rochdale parliamentary seat.

The turnout locally reflected the country's passive attitude to politics at the moment, with UKIP the only major party to gain more votes than they received in 2004. Despite their victory the Tories lost 2641 votes, Labour lost 7251 and the Lib Dems 6359.

The full result for Rochdale was:

Conservative 8909

Labour 8468

Lib Dem 8299

UKIP 7141

BNP 4905

Green 2590

The eight North West representatives for the European Parliament are Robert Atkins (Con), Arlene McCarthy (Lab), Paul Nuttall (UKIP), Chris Davies (Lib Dem), Nick Griffin (BNP), Sajjad Karim (Con), Brian Simpson (Lab), Jacqueline Foster (Con).

The turnout for the North West was 31.7%, with a 1,651,825 turnout from an electorate of 5,206,474.

The Conservatives won 423,174 votes (25.6%), Labour 336,831 (20.4%), UKIP 261,740 (15.8%), Liberal Democrats 235,639 (14.3%), BNP 132,094 (8%), Green Party 127,133 (7.7%). Other parties won 8.1% of the vote.