U.K. BY-ELECTIONS Labour Humbles Conservatives

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30094, 30 March 1963, Page 11

U.K. BY-ELECTIONS Labour Humbles Conservatives

(K.Z .P A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, March 29. The Labour Party easily retained two Parliamentary seats in by-elections yesterday, inflicting a major humiliation on Mr Macmillan’s Conservatives in one of them. In a six-candidate contest at Swansea East, Wales, the Conservative challenger was pushed down to fourth place in the ballot, behind the Liberal and an independent. He forfeited the £l5O deposit which all candidates must lodge as a guarantee of good faith.

The “Daily Mail” reported that the independent who beat the Conservative was a 57-year-old clergyman representing the “People’s Party.” The clergyman, the Rev. Leon Atkin, admitted during the campaign that the party had a solid membership of two—himself and his wife, Ethel.

The newspaper said nobody had expected the Conservative to get near to winning the ultra-safe Labour seat. “But to lose a deposit, and be beaten by an off-beat candidate with no organisation or set following, is a grievous setback,” it said. The deposit is lost by candidates who fail to collect one-eighth of the total votes polled The Labour majority at Swansea East dropped from 20.130 votes in 1959 to ’4,014 votes, but the nearest vote to the victor's was the Liberal’s 4895. Three other candidates—a Welsh Nationalist, an independent and a Communist—-also forfeited their deposits. The Swansea East verdict came hard on the heels of another by-election result. At Rotherham. Yorkshire. Labour, defending the seat substantially increased its 1959 majority in a fight with the Conservative and an Independent. Monotonously repeating the trend of a long succession of bye-elec-tions. the Conservatives’ share of the Rotherham total poll was sharply down—by nearly 9 per cent compared with 1959—while that of Labour rose by nearly 7 per cent.

The results of both contests polled yesterday were declared before midnight as follows: Rotherham Mr Brian O’Malley (Labour), 22.441 votes. Mr Michael Barras (Conservative) 9209. Mr Russell Eckley (Independent), 742. Labour majority 13.232 votes, compared with 11,539 votes in a straight contest with the Conservatives in 1959. Swansea East Mr Neil Mcßride (Labour). 18.909 votes. Mr Richard Owens (Liberal), 4895 The Rev Leon Atkin (Independent), 2462. Miss Pamela Thomas (Conservative), 2272. Mr Chris Rees (Welsh Nationalist), 1620. Mr Bert Pearce (Communist). 773. Labour majority 14.014 votes, compared with 20,130 votes in a three-cornered contest in 1959. The Conservatives’ share of the total poll at Swansea was cut by about two-thirds, compared with 1959—from 22 per cent, to 7.3 per cent. Labour’s share was down by more than

6 per cent.—from 67.5 per cent, in 1959 to 61.1 per cent. Within a week, Mr Macmillan’s Government has suffered three by-election shocks. Last Thursday, at Colne Valley, where Labour successfully defended a seat. Liberals ousted the Government candidate from second place and came within 2039 votes of the victor. In Swansea, the Liberal candidate also took runner-up position, but the Labour victor had such a majority over all the other five contenders that the Liberal score has scarcely the same significance as at Colne Valley. Labour supporters saw the results of the by-election as fresh pointers to a victory for their party at the next General Election, which is due before October next year. The results caused fresh dismay among Government

supporters, who have been struggling without pause for 18 months to retrieve their electoral fortunes. Some politicians are forecasting, however, that Government popularity will get a<n early “lift” from the Budget, to be announced in Parliament next week. They see the economic as well as the political situation justifying a Budget of an expansionist character, including tax concessions. These may include a modest cut in direct income tax as well as various reliefs aimed at stimulating production.