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Lib Dems defend election showing Lib Dems defend election showing
(about 4 hours later)
The Liberal Democrats have said their Crewe and Nantwich by-election showing was "really rather robust", despite coming third with 14.6% of the vote. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said his party "held its own" in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, despite coming third with 14.6% of the vote.
Home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said third parties in by-elections often got squeezed to 3% or less of the vote. He said his candidate Elizabeth Shenton achieved a "respectable result" in the face of "an enormous national squeeze".
He added, on the BBC's Daily Politics, that people had been voting anti-Labour rather than "pro-Tory". Mr Clegg said it was a vote against Prime Minister Gordon Brown, not in favour of a Conservative government.
Fellow Lib Dem Ed Davey said Labour "had it coming" after the decision to scrap the 10p rate of income tax. On Thursday the Tories overturned a 7,000 Labour majority in their first by-election gain since 1982.
Conservative candidate Edward Timpson took 20,539 votes, Labour's Tamsin Dunwoody was second on 12,679, while Ms Shenton was third on 6,040.
You lose some, you win some Nick Clegg
Mr Clegg said: "It was a respectable result in difficult circumstances for us. "It was an enormous national squeeze this was a seat where the Conservatives had poured in quite a lot of resources over a long period of time.
"They were well placed to pick up the disillusionment with Gordon Brown. It was a vote though, at the end of the day, against Gordon Brown, rather than in favour of a Conservative government in my view."
He added: "You lose some, you win some. There'll be many other by-elections to come where I'm absolutely confident we'll do extremely well."
'Rather robust'
Earlier the party's home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said third parties in by-elections often got squeezed to 3% or less of the vote.
Lib Dem chief executive Lord Rennard said the Lib Dem vote had been "really rather robust" in an area where the party had always been in third place.Lib Dem chief executive Lord Rennard said the Lib Dem vote had been "really rather robust" in an area where the party had always been in third place.
He said a party that begins in third place "rarely does well in a by-election".He said a party that begins in third place "rarely does well in a by-election".
Vote squeeze
But he said the Lib Dems had not suffered "anything like the sort of squeeze" Labour and the Conservatives had done in previous by-elections.
He also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he did not fear a resurgent Conservative Party would squeeze the Lib Dem vote further.
RESULT AT-A-GLANCE Edward TimpsonConservative: 20,539 Tasmin DunwoodyLabour: 12,679Elizabeth ShentonLib Dems: 6,040RESULT AT-A-GLANCE Edward TimpsonConservative: 20,539 Tasmin DunwoodyLabour: 12,679Elizabeth ShentonLib Dems: 6,040
"Having been in Crewe a lot over the last few weeks, the feeling very much was against the Labour government and against the 10p tax change in particular. It was not actually for the Conservatives in any way." But he said the Lib Dems had not suffered "anything like the sort of squeeze" Labour and the Conservatives had done in previous by-elections.
He said the Lib Dems had made gains in "traditional Labour heartlands" in St Albans, Hull and Sheffield in the recent local elections, adding: "It's the Liberal Democrats who are challenging, not the Conservatives." And he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Lib Dems had made gains in "traditional Labour heartlands" in St Albans, Hull and Sheffield in the recent local elections, adding: "It's the Liberal Democrats who are challenging, not the Conservatives."
Mr Davey, Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton, added on GMTV: "With the economic climate turning down, the voters used this to punish Labour."
Ms Shenton took 6,040 votes, while Labour's Tamsin Dunwoody took 12,679 and the Conservative candidate Edward Timpson won with 20,539 votes.
In her speech, Ms Shenton told the government: "You need to know that you were very wrong when you supported a budget that taxed people on ordinary incomes more than the rich.In her speech, Ms Shenton told the government: "You need to know that you were very wrong when you supported a budget that taxed people on ordinary incomes more than the rich.
"The people who elected a Labour government did not expect it to behave like a Conservative one.""The people who elected a Labour government did not expect it to behave like a Conservative one."
She said that when she was campaigning she had not met anyone who said they wanted a Conservative government. Mr Timpson's victory in what had been considered a "safe" Labour seat represented a 17.6 swing from the 2005 general election - which Labour's Gwyneth Dunwoody had won with a majority of 7,078.
Mr Timpson's victory in what had been considered a "safe" Labour seat represented a 17.6 swing from the 2005 general election - which Labour's Gwyneth Dunwoody had won with a majority of more than 7,078.