Labour holds off Ukip in byelections

[rpannier]

Labour scored comfortable victories in three byelections early on Friday morning, bringing in a hat-trick of new MPs for the party. Ukip also enjoyed a strong performance, coming second in two of the votes, and third in the other.

In Rotherham, which Labour held with 9,866 votes, Ukip had hoped for a late surge after a week of dream publicity. Not only had polls put its national support at an all-time high of 11% but the Eurosceptic party topped the news agenda after two of its local members claimed they had been told they were unsuitable foster parents for children of east European origin because of their political views.

snip

John Healey, Labour MP for neighbouring Wentworth and Deane, said: "It has been a hard campaign, but we deserved to hold the seat. The real shock here is the terrible, terrible result for the two coalition parties. They didn't even bother campaigning – they've given up." The byelection was triggered after MacShane admitted wrongly claiming £7,500 in expenses. His vote rose in the last general election to 16,741 compared with 15,840 in 2005.

link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/30/labour-rotherham-byelection-ukip

so the two coalition parties either didn't field any candidates or were non-entities