Cable Forum - View Single Post - 2010 General Election: The Cable Forum Exit Poll

**Hugh** · 07-05-2010, 21:22

For all those who feel disenfrachised by living in a safe seat (of whatever party) under the FPTP system, could I point out the history of my constituency, Leeds North West.

It was a safe Tory seat pre-1997 (even in 92 they had a 7.7k majority), but it was lost to Labour in 97, with Lib Dems coming third then and in 2001. They became very active locally, the prospective candidate Greg Mulholland visited all the usual suspects (schools, shopping centres, holding surgeries, etc), and won in 2005 with a majority of 1877. His majority increased this time to 9103, with Labour reducing and Tories static.

This happened because he works hard in the constituency, supporting his electorate (of whatever persuasion), and is a fairly independent Liberal Democrat - perhaps if we had more of these types of MPs (of all parties), some safe seats wouldn't be so safe?

07-05-2010, 21:22	#608
Hugh laeva recumbens anguis Cable Forum Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Age: 69 Services: Premiere Collection Posts: 43,826	Re: 2010 General Election: The Cable Forum Exit Poll For all those who feel disenfrachised by living in a safe seat (of whatever party) under the FPTP system, could I point out the history of my constituency, Leeds North West. It was a safe Tory seat pre-1997 (even in 92 they had a 7.7k majority), but it was lost to Labour in 97, with Lib Dems coming third then and in 2001. They became very active locally, the prospective candidate Greg Mulholland visited all the usual suspects (schools, shopping centres, holding surgeries, etc), and won in 2005 with a majority of 1877. His majority increased this time to 9103, with Labour reducing and Tories static. This happened because he works hard in the constituency, supporting his electorate (of whatever persuasion), and is a fairly independent Liberal Democrat - perhaps if we had more of these types of MPs (of all parties), some safe seats wouldn't be so safe? __________________ Thank you for calling the Abyss. If you have called to scream, please press 1 to be transferred to the Void, or press 2 to begin your stare. If my post is in bold and this colour, it's a Moderator Request.