An interesting election result in Hastings

While the Tories held their St Helen's council seat in Hastings in the by-election yesterday, Labour's share of the vote rose considerably. In 2008 Labour received 24% vs 59% for the Conservatives (on a 50% turnout). Yesterday, on a turnout of 37%, the Tories won with 41% of the vote but Labour's share increased to 37%.

The LibDem vote fell from 17% to 14%. This time around there were two other parties standing - the BNP (6%) and English Democrats (2%).

We shouldn't draw too many conclusions from a single result (apart from credit to the Labour campaigners) but it appears that in hard-fought Hastings the Tory vote is vulnerable and the LibDem vote appears to have been squeezed.