Labour’s shock Sheffield by-election defeat ‘not about Jeremy Corbyn’, says Lib Dem winner – The Star
![Gail Smith and Nick Clegg with 'lucky mascot', Charlie the dog [Image: Sheffield Star].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/160912-GailSmithNickClegg.jpg)
Gail Smith and Nick Clegg with ‘lucky mascot’, Charlie the dog [Image: Sheffield Star].
Winning Lib Dem candidate Gail Smith said Labour members were rarely seen in the area except at election times, voters felt taken for granted, and the party organisation in Sheffield needed to address its own arrogance, rather than blaming Jeremy Corbyn.
Strong words. Strong enough to spark vandalism in Wakefield?
The woman who won a surprise Sheffield by-election victory over Labour has insisted that Jeremy Corbyn was not the reason for her success.
Liberal Democrat Gail Smith made the comments after being elected to represent the Mosborough ward in a by-election called following the death of Labour councillor Isobel Bowler earlier this year.
In a surprise result, she beat Labour party candidate and current Stocksbridge town councillor Julie Grocutt – just months after the Lib Dems came fourth in the ward.
Penistone and Stocksbridge MP Angela Smith has suggested the result was down to traditional Labour voters in Mosborough turning their backs on the party due to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership – but Councillor Smith said she didn’t believe that was the case.
Writing on the Star website, she said: “My Lib Dems team and I have spent the last 10 weeks working seven days a week in Mosborough, knocking on just about every door, and I can tell you Jeremy Corbyn was more popular than Angela Smith wants to admit. I certainly do not agree that is why I won.
“Most people told us that they never saw Labour, only at election time and they felt taken for granted. One lady told me that she had been canvassed by Labour, who when she told them she was voting for me, was told ‘You cannot vote Lib Dems, you live in a Labour area’.
“And that is the arrogance of this Labour Party here in Sheffield – Corbyn is not as unpopular as they would like you to think. They need to look very closely at their own leadership in Sheffield.
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One has to wonder what sort of local councillor the labour candidate was, one who the locals know and who works for them or one they rarely see and toes the party line every time, we all know who they are and they might get re elected because of those who just vote for the party rather than the candidate, but the less respected councillors rarely get elected to parliament.
Well done to Gail Smith for her honesty and she is right to make the points she did. There is evidence that her victory was well earned and we should not take anything away from her victory.
“Writing on the Star website, she said: “My Lib Dems team and I have spent the last 10 weeks working seven days a week in Mosborough, knocking on just about every door, and I can tell you Jeremy Corbyn was more popular than Angela Smith wants to admit. I certainly do not agree that is why I won.
“Most people told us that they never saw Labour, only at election time and they felt taken for granted. One lady told me that she had been canvassed by Labour, who when she told them she was voting for me, was told ‘You cannot vote Lib Dems, you live in a Labour area’.
“And that is the arrogance of this Labour Party here in Sheffield – Corbyn is not as unpopular as they would like you to think. They need to look very closely at their own leadership in Sheffield.”
It has to be said that in my own ward I only ever heard or saw the Labour Party at General Election times and the canvassing done by Tories in particular was far more superior. Needless to say we are a Tory ward.
It has seemed to be more a case of the Labour candidate being the one telling people that Corbyn is weak and ineffectual, the Blue Labour lie from the beginning of the Anyone But Corbyn campaign.
Obviously the local populice were not too well impressed with that sort of campaigning stance, and that from someone foisted upon them from elsewhere.
Yes. I agree, Labour can be very arrogant and seem shocked and surprised and aggressive if people say they are not voting for them or face them with their incredible appalling history, whether nationally or locally.
Have same problem where I live. Labour dreadful then expect to be welcomed with open arms on doorstep instead of a horsewhip and broom.
Labour needs to take note Jeremy Corbyn cannot do it all for you. Stop being arrogant and crap