Labour’s Richard Burden holds Northfield Constituency despite significant Conservative swing

• May. 7 by Christopher Smith (0)

Labour’s Richard Burden has held the Northfield constituency for a fourth term despite a hefty 6.6% swing in favour of the Conservatives.

Burden, who has held the Northfield seat since 1992, gained 40.3% of the vote. The Conservative’s Keeley Huxtable gained a 33.6% vote share, giving Burden a 2,782 majority in the constituency.

However, Burden’s vote share fell considerably from 2005, with a 10.1% drop in vote share. In comparison, Huxtable and the Tories vote share increased by 3.2%, making significant inroads into what is traditionally a Labour stronghold.

The Liberal Democrats put in a good performance, with candidate Mike Dixon gaining 15.7% of the vote, up 3.3% from 2005. There was also a surge in support for the British National Party and their candidate Les Orton, with 5.5% of the votes and an increase of 2.2% from 2005.

Independent candidate Dick Rodgers ended an eccentric campaign, which included dressing up as Big Ben for a roadside campaign on Election Day, with a loss. His vote share decreased by 0.4%, gaining 305 votes and 0.7% of the vote. Despite this, Rodgers admitted earlier in the day that becoming an MP was not a priority:

“I’m only doing it partly for the actual result because I want to get known more, because I’m campaigning for all sorts of other things. For instance, a bloke in China who’s imprisoned just for asking for multi-party democracy.

I want to campaign for all sorts of things in the public interest and this helps me get known”

The evening was disappointing for the Green Party, gaining just 406 votes (1% vote share) in an area known across Birmingham for its eco-centre. UKIP’s John Borthwick managed to gain a 1% increase on the 2005 vote, with 3.3% of the votes.