Bristol city Tory wins European seat
A Bristol Tory councillor has won a seat in the European elections.
Ashley Fox, 39, who has represented the city’s Westbury-on-Trym ward for the past six years, is one of six candidates in the south west to win a seat in the European Parliament.
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Ashley Fox
The results for the region were announced early today MON in Poole, the regional centre for the election count.
Mr Fox, a solicitor who lives with his wife, Julia, 37, and two young children in Henleaze, was one of three Tory winners on a night when the Labour vote spectacularly collapsed.
Labour slumped into fifth place behind the Tories, UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) and the Green Party.
Labour suffered so badly that the BNP (British National Party) polled more than half of their total votes.
Mr Fox said he was delighted to be Bristol’s first Euro MP for ten years.
He said the Labour vote had collapsed because of their failure to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and their failure to deal with the economy.
He said voters were fed up with Gordon Brown and urged a General Election as soon as possible.
Mr Ford admitted that Labour’s fifth place was “very disappointing”.
He said: “No one can pretend it’s a good result but you have to bear in mind that the south west is our weakest region.
“Of course I don’t want to be in a situation where the BNP takes one vote for nearly two of ours but it has to be borne in mind that they didn’t make the breakthrough they were anticipating.”
Labour polled 118,000 votes (7.66 per cent) compared to the BNP’s 60,000 votes (3.93 per cent).
The two other Tories to win seats were Giles Chichester from Ottery St Mary in Devon and Julie Girling, former leader of Cotswold district council.
The two UKIP candidates who won seats were former police superintendent Trevor Colman, 67, from Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, and William Dartmouth, the former Conservative in the House of Lords who swapped allegiance over Europe.
The lone Liberal Democrat seat was won by Graham Watson who is the leader of the Liberal Democrat group in Europe.
The Green Party candidate, Ricky Knight, a former teacher from North Devon said it was a small consolation to force Labour into fifth spot.
He said their hope had been to win a seat so they could fight for policies to deal with climate change.
A total of 16 parties and one independent stood in the south west with 11 of them losing their £5,000 deposit.
The turnout was 38.87 per cent – marginally higher than five years ago when it was 37.6 per cent.
In the former Avon area, the turnout was slightly less than average at 36.35 per cent.
A total of 779,820 people were eligible to vote in the south west but only 282,842 took the trouble to help decide who runs the European Parliament during the next five years.
In Bristol, 295,862 people were eligible to vote but only 106,669 bothered to do so.
The pecking order for the six chosen candidates is:
Giles Chichester, Con
Trevor Colman, UKIP
Graham Watson, Lib Dem
Julie Girling, Con
William Dartmouth, UKIP
Ashley Fox, Con
4 Comments
by Annette Hennessy, Portishead
Monday, June 08 2009, 9:55PM
“Marie, the six "independents" that you refer to were representing the Jury Team. Their website stated, "Are you unhappy with the way things are? By joining the Jury Team, you are becoming part of a political party like no other". So none were truly independent like Katie Hopkins so the article was factually correct.
Great quote from Peter Mandelson on Sunday's Andrew Marr programme when he protested under questioning, "We are all united AGAINST Gordan Brown". He had to be embarrassingly corrected on his little faux pas. Whilst we are becoming used to people taking pots at the Prime Minister and his Labour Government, the comical comments are becoming too frequent now in the media and once the PM has become this much of a joke, it is time for a General Election. Otherwise, Great Britain will be labelled in the same way.”
by Mr M Lewis, Bristol
Monday, June 08 2009, 2:21PM
“Glyn Ford MEP has been telling the media that he lost his seat through no fault of his own, that voters were focusing on other issues. Maybe he now knows how Ian White MEP felt 10 years ago. He was a very good representative whose seat was stolen by Ford being placed top of the Labour Party's list when they brought in proportional representation. People knew who their representative was then. How many in the region had heard of Mr Ford?”
by Marie Clayton, Poole
Monday, June 08 2009, 10:00AM
“Please correct the factual inaccuracy in this article. The Jury Team consisted of 6 independent MEP candidates, so there were 15 parties and 7 independents standing.”
by andrewchappell, Midsomer norton
Monday, June 08 2009, 9:32AM
“Listening to the TV this morning all labour politicians seem to be blaming the expenses fiasco. shows they are not in touch with voters.
I didn't vote labour because of the 10% tax which left me worse off and together with all the other hidden increases in tax ie Petrol..Their cabinet now comprises of inexperience and
people whom I have never heard of ..and also because Brown seemed to think he was more important than the queeen on D DAY>.Not happy with money given out to local councils either to cover such things as swimming and then blaming the councils for not sponsoring all ages .. And also noting BROWNSs photo in the newspaper at every opportunity..”