Stunning Conservative Election Success Across North Warwickshire And Bedworth

With local Labour activists still reeling from the County Council results – which saw a swing of over 9.5% from Labour to the Conservatives across North Warwickshire and Bedworth - former Army Major Dan Byles is on course to become the first Conservative MP for the area since 1992.

The Conservative success last Thursday follows a pattern in recent years, which saw them take control of North Warwickshire Borough Council in 2007 and Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council in 2008.

Then on Sunday night the news came through that Labour fell to third place in the North Warwickshire European Elections behind the Conservatives and UKIP, with their local vote falling to an unprecedented 17% of votes cast.

Dan Byles, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for North Warwickshire & Bedworth, was delighted with the results but also took the time to express his disappointment at what he described as a negative and personal Labour campaign.

Dan said: “These results show that the people of North Warwickshire & Bedworth are hungry for change, and they are a testament to the hard work of so many Conservative councillors and members.

“I am proud of the campaign that we fought. Every message from the Conservative side was a positive message for change, standing firmly on our record. Conservative campaigners took our message to the doorsteps, and we spoke with thousands of local people face to face throughout the campaign.

“It’s just a shame that the same can’t be said of the Labour campaign. Local Labour activists were apparently too afraid the knock on doors and speak to people. Instead, negative leaflets full of bile were furtively stuffed into letterboxes.

“It is a sign of how desperate Labour have become that their leaflets contained no positive promises or commitments. They didn’t even bother with a manifesto. Instead their literature was full of false and negative attacks – I always know that it is election time when I read that local fire stations are about to be closed, they put the same rubbish out every time!

“Most disappointing of all were the personal smear leaflets. The evening before the election saw a number of our candidates personally attacked and smeared in an utterly disgraceful manner. But all of Labour’s desperate tricks didn’t stop them from losing four county councillors across the constituency – including in the formerly safe Labour seats of Atherstone and Polesworth.

“The people of North Warwickshire and Bedworth have rung the bell for change loudly and clearly. The question is. Is Gordon Brown listening?”