Bromley and Chislehurst By-election

I am officially tired, but I decided to put my thoughts about the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election onto the site while they are still fresh.

I have been over to B&C a number of times since the election was called as it is next door. What has come across is how negative much of the campaign has been.

I am pleased to say that Bob and his team have chosen not to get involved in the mud slinging and have stuck to promoting the candidate, the party and the plans for the area. I wish that the same could be said for the others.

The Lib Dems and UKIP have been the worst, but by no means the only, offenders and have consistently played the man rather than the ball. This unrelenting negativity has the effect of driving down participation.

Unfortunately Bob will be tarred with the same brush so I imagine the turnout will be low, even for a by-election.

Labour clearly feel that they cannot fight two battles at once and have given up the fight in B&C and decamped to South Wales. This will mean that the Lib Dems will pick up a fair number of soft Labour votes, not enough to win but they will get second place and close the gap on us. UKIP have thrown the kitchen sink at the campaign and could well come in third ahead of Labour.

I am not going to make a prediction because a low turnout can create some funny numbers but I am confident that Bob Neil will be the MP for Bromley and Chislehurst tomorrow.