News story

14th June 2004

South Gloucestershire Lib Dems Celebrate Major Local Advance in Euro Elections

South Gloucestershire Liberal Democrats are celebrating a big swing to the Lib Dems among local voters in the European Elections. In South Gloucestershire as a whole, the Conservative vote share was down over 8%, and the Liberal Democrat share up over 5%. The UKIP finished fourth in South Gloucestershire, narrowly behind the Labour party. Within South Gloucestershire, the Liberal Democrats' vote share is always largest in the Northavon constituency where it appears that the Lib Dems outpolled the Conservatives, a big improvement on their distant second in the last European Elections. Across the South West as a whole, the Lib Dem vote share was up, whilst the Conservatives lost a Euro MEP to the UKIP.

Commenting on the results, Steve Webb said:

"These are the best European Election results for the Liberal Democrats for many years. Here in South Gloucestershire there was a big swing away from the Conservatives compared with the last European Elections and a big growth in the Lib Dem vote share.

"I am particularly pleased to see that Northavon voters appear to have given the Liberal Democrats the biggest share of the vote. All the signs are that when it comes to the General Election the Northavon constituency will again be a two-horse race between  the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives".


Note to editors: The results of the 1999 European Elections were declared at constituency level. The results of the 2004 elections were declared by local authority. By adding together the whole and part constituencies which make up South Gloucestershire it is possible to estimate what the 1999 result for the whole of South Gloucestershire would have been. The 2003 results for South Gloucestershire put the Conservatives on 28% (down 8%) and the Lib Dems on 21% (up 5%). Within Northavon constituency, it is estimated that the Lib Dems had the highest vote, whereas in 1999 the Conservatives led by 40% to 25%.