Simon Danczuk MP: reaction to Heywood and Middleton by-election result

Simon Danczuk MP

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk has stated that “lessons need to be learnt” by Labour the Heywood and Middleton by-election result which saw Labour only very narrowly beat UKIP.

Speaking to Rochdale Online, Mr Danczuk said: “I think it shows that lessons need to be learnt and that the voters want us to campaign on more than one issue. I understand that from the doorstep there are voters who want us to have a stronger stance on immigration and I think that is something that the leader will change but I also know that there are Labour voters who have gone to UKIP and that is also something that we need to change.”

Liz McInnes was elected as the new MP for Heywood and Middleton. The seat has been held Labour since its creation in 1983 but the majority was slashed as Labour only won the seat by 617 votes.

“If you look at the turnout for the election, we actually had a 1% increase on the majority for the last General Election so in a way it is good but lessons do need to be learnt from this,” added Mr Danczuk.

Mr Danczuk believes that if it wasn’t for the work of Liz McInnes and the campaigners on the doorstep, the seat could have easily been won by UKIP.

He said: “I think Liz had a good and strong campaign but I think it if it wasn’t for all of her hard work on the doorstep and all of the hard work of the campaigners and the people who were supporting her, we would have lost to UKIP and there is no doubt in that.”

At the election, the Conservative candidate only received 12.3% of the votes with the Liberal Democrat candidate receiving 5.1% of the votes.

“If I were Jake Berry, the Conservative MP for Rossendale or David Nuttall, the Conservative MP for Bury North then I would be worried because with the way things are going they could be out of Parliament and those seats could go to Labour or UKIP. It was not a good night for the Conservative Party last night as they lost a lot of their voters and the Liberal Democrat vote simply died,” added Mr Danczuk.

Congratulating Liz McInnes on holding the seat for Labour, Mr Danczuk said: “I think it is good news that we kept the seat and I think that Liz will be a good MP for the people of Heywood and Middleton.”

Both Liz McInnes and Simon Danczuk will have to stand for election in May 2015 in the General Election. When asked how confident he is that the party can hold their seats in both Rochdale and Heywood and Middleton, Mr Danczuk believes that if the party listens to voters, the seats will stay Labour.

He added: “We never take voters for granted and we have to listen to what is being said by voters and I think that if we can speak up for the voters and recognise what they want then I have confidence that they will re-elect myself and Liz in 2015.”