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North Shropshire result shows ‘voters do care about barefaced lies’ says Welsh Labour chair of Standards Committee

17 Dec 2021 2 minute read
The winning North Shropshire Liberal Democrat candidate Helen Morgan. Picture from her Facebook page

Chris Bryant, the Rhondda MP who is chair of the Commons’ Standards Committee, has said that the North Shropshire result shows that voters do care about the scandals engulfing the Conservative party.

The Liberal Democrats won the seat where the Tories had a majority of 23,000 by a margin of nearly 6,000 votes.

The by-election took place in the former seat of Owen Paterson, who resigned from the House of Commons last month amid controversy surrounding a report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards that found that he had broken paid advocacy rules.

But the result also came after a few weeks in which the UK Government has been engulfed in a continued lobbying scandal and questions around whether party and government staff held Christmas parties while the rest of the country was in lockdown.

Taking to social media after the result was announced, Chris Bryant said: “Contrary to what every commentator told me for months, voters do care about corruption, peddling influence for paying clients, protecting your mates when they’ve done wrong, barefaced lies and one rule for them and another for the rest of us.”

He said that the by-election all started with Boris Johnson defending Owen Paterson “in an extraordinarily ill-judged move. It was a clear example of a broken moral compass.”

In her victory speech the winning Liberal Democrat candidate, Helen Morgan, a 46-year-old accountant and parish councillor, said that Conservative voters had been “dismayed by Boris Johnson’s lack of decency and fed up with being taken for granted”.

“Tonight, the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people,” she said. “They have said loudly and clearly: Boris Johnson, the party is over.

“Our country is crying out for leadership. Mr Johnson, you are no leader.”

The Conservative candidate Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst pointed to the fact that after 11 years in government it was not a surprise that the UK Government were losing byelections.


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Grayham Jones
2 years ago

It’s time for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh kick all English party’s out of wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 get out in your town’s and start fighting for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 it’s time for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago

It doesn’t matter who is in power in Westminster, Wales will be in the same predicament as we are in now. The poverty we see is a result of centuries of neglect by different parties in power. Welsh political parties, with ties to a UK equivalent, must cut themselves free and put Wales first.

j humphrys
j humphrys
2 years ago

Obviously, the English are as fed with Tory me first as we are, feel cheated by lies, and
yearn for something honest and solid.
As for cymru, all non Tory parties must get the message that we want out, and they better believe it. As Grayham keeps cheerleading: Time for independence:
*** Yes Cymru! ***

Last edited 2 years ago by j humphrys
R W
R W
2 years ago

However it was a terrible result for Labour as well as for the Tories, a fact totally ignored by Bryant. They came a solid second at the last GE but were a distant third this time around. So much for some people’s suggestions that Labour are on course for victory at the next election!! Independence is the only realistic way of getting rid of the Tories permanently.

SundanceKid
SundanceKid
2 years ago
Reply to  R W

Labour voters still appear to be in denial about the extent of the decline of their party.

Pete Roberts
Pete Roberts
2 years ago
Reply to  R W

All opposition parties in safe seats have a glass ceiling. Labour hit this in NS in 97 and 17 and have declined since then. Lib Dems sensed this and ran a highly effective campaign appealing to switchers from all parties. In this case, we were the beneficiary, but in Conwy in 97 it worked the other way. This wasn’t a bad result for Labour though they couldn’t win. The one that should concern them is Old Bexley. They need to work out why the Lib Dems can secure Conservative switchers and they cant. But both parties need to look carefully… Read more »

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