MASSIVE SWING TO LIB DEMS IN LONDON COLNEY BY-ELECTION

2.00.00pm GMT Sun 14th Feb 2010

St Albans Liberal Democrats have been celebrating a fantastic result for Vibs Nazeri in Thursday's London Colney parish council by-election. Just 32 votes deprived Vibs of victory in a barnstorming performance by the first-time candidate.

Commenting on the last real election result in St Albans before the imminent General Election, Sandy Walkington said: "Not only were the BNP trounced, but Labour and particularly the Conservatives both saw their vote share fall compared with a huge surge in support for the Liberal Democrats.

"As recently as 2008, Dave Winstone, the Conservative candidate on Thursday, polled 48 percent of the vote to win London Colney village in the last district elections. On Thursday he came in third place, with his 181 votes representing a dramatically reduced 27 percent vote share. It's yet more evidence of the damage done to the St Albans Conservative Party by months of local in-fighting."

Lib Dem Vibs polled 29 percent of the vote, a massive increase from the six percent polled by the Lib Dem candidate in London Colney in 2008.The local Labour candidates narrow victory was achieved on a share of the vote which was also markedly down from Labour's percentage when they lost the village in 2008.

"With the BNP in a humiliating fourth place, the momentum going forward into the General Election is clearly with the Liberal Democrats," Sandy Walkington concluded.