Slow start to Heywood & Middleton By-election

IN the first two hours of polling this morning in the Heywood and Middleton by-election caused by the sudden death of Jim Dobbin last month, only 45 voters had entered the polling booth at Castleton library.  Of these only 15 were women.  Most of the men appeared to be white working class, although one was clearly white-collar and middle-class.


There were people taking the election numbers from all of the parties except the Conservative Party.  Councillor Billy Sherrin, the Labour Party lad was there, and a lass from the Lib-Dems called 'Bev' at 7am when the polling booths opened, a few minutes later someone from the Green Party turned up, and a lad from Nottingham appeared around 8am to represent Ukip.


The Lib-Dem candidate Anthony Smith voted at Castleton early on in the morning.  There was some passionate debate about the issues of Europe, cheap-labour immigrants, and benefit claimants, but it was all conducted very politely.