Sun rises on South Dorset
The South Dorset result has just come through and with 20,000 votes or so, Jim Knight, the Labour Party candidate has narrowly scraped past the Tory, Ed Matts; it’s some achievement, in such traditionally, Tory heartland territory.
If the Labour Party had decided to remove the candidate in West Dorset, then they could be looking at another anti-Tory blow with the 8,000 or so votes they managed to find, depriving a much stronger candidate, that narrowly led to a Tory Letwin win.
David Marcesi, of the Socialist Labour Party, must be extremely disappointed with only 25 votes counted in the whole constituency: the ballot paper, omitting the Party he was representing, leaving a blank square with no information at all, where, clearly there should have been stated ‘Socialist Labour Party’ - a courtesy afforded to all the other candidates, with their names and the relevant Party shown distinctly - must have contributed to the diabolically low vote.
It’s very disappointing and quite outrageous for such a mistake to be made, or overlooked, by those responsible for ensuring a fair election. Surely, Mr Marchesi and the SLP should at least have their deposit waved, with assurances that the SLP candidate will be given fair representation at the next election.