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Trailing third, the Lib Dems have a long way to go
• I WAS intrigued to read Richard Osley’s recent article in the Camden New Journal, from which a casual reader might have drawn the impression that the Lib Dems are the main parliamentary challengers to Frank Dobson in Holborn and St Pancras (Will “working-class Hira” keep voters’ respect after defection, August 21).
This is supported neither by recent election results nor by the predictions of independent sources.
In fact, electoral
calculus.com shows Labour on 34 per cent, the Conservatives on 32 per cent and the Lib Dems on 20 per cent in Holborn and St Pancras.
This, of course, takes into account the Conservatives’ current massive 20 per cent lead in the mid-term national opinion polls, and may not be exactly replicated in a general election. It is still reasonable to suppose that the Lib Dems are much further from winning the seat than their propaganda would have us believe.
The same was true at the London-wide elections in May of this year, in which the Conservatives came second to Labour in Holborn & St Pancras, and the Lib Dems third.
At the council level the Lib Dems are a powerful force in Camden, but there is no evidence that this translates into success at parliamentary elections, which are decided largely by national factors.
There are several parts of the constituency where other parties have scooped the anti-Labour vote, but where Conservatives still do well at national elections.
ADAM LESTER
Holborn & St Pancras
Conservatives
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