GOVERNMENT JOLTED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 11 January 1944, Page 5

GOVERNMENT JOLTED

SKIPTON BY-ELECTION SHOCK TO CONSERVATIVES SECOND COMMON WEALTH PARTY SUCCESS London, .lan. 10. The new Common Wealth political party gained a second success at the polls when Lieut. H. Lawson won the Skipton (Yorkshire) byelection by a narrow majority of 200 voles over the Conservative candidate. The Independent candidate forfeited his deposit. The by-elec-lion resulted from the death of Mr G. W. Rickards, Conservative, who had a majority of 5059 over Labour in the last election. "The result was a shock to the Conservative supporters, says “The Times.” The Skipton electors turned out to a greater extent than in any other byelection for a long time. They generally showed nothing but gratitude and honour to Mr Churchill as the nation’s war leader, but he appeared to the electors in a different light as the leader of the Conservative Party. There is unquestionably strong dissatisfaction with the Government’s domestic record and preparations for peace, the correspondent adds. The last Skipton poll was in the general election of 1935, and was a LabourConservative contest, resulting in 22,847 votes for the sitting Conservative and 17,788 for the Labour Party candidate. The latest by-election is the second won by the Common Wealth Party, which entered the field about two years ago on a partly Socialist platform. It has contested many seats. Its leader is Sir Richard Acland (Bart.), M.P.. who left the Liberal Party The full details have not been received of the latest result. NEWSPAPER COMMENT ‘ The Times,” commenting on the result of the Skipton by-election, points out that the inclination to desert orthodox candidates is particularly strong in wartime and as a result, affords no serious evidence that the Common Wealth party has yet made appreciable progress towards realising its ambition to win every rural constituency. The newspaper observes, however, that prudent citizens are beginning to look beyond immediate exigencies and anxieties and the Coalition will increasingly depend on the capacity of the present programme which will inspire new confidence in its ability to meet emergencies already looming ahead. The “Yorkshire Post” says : “Few people feel that the election reveals substantial support for the policy of Common Wealth ownership advocated by a small group of social theorists, but it may be taken to indicate that a considerable section of voters felt they might as well use the occasion to prod the Government into showing greater energy and determination in the approach to problems of post-war plan- 1 ning. ‘The result indicates weaknesses in the appeal made by the present coalition which tends to blanket normal political discussion while the truce produces impatience and frustration among many electors. The Coalition should therefore not only be active in planning, but make its activity widely known.”