By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Voters gave Britain's new Prime Minister Gordon Brown cautious endorsement as the Labour party Friday retained the two seats of Sedgefield and Ealing Southall – better known as Little India – but with reduced majorities.
The by-elections were Brown's first electoral test after taking over as Britain's prime minister in June, but his delight at the victory was dampened by the fact that the winning margin in both constituencies had dwindled since the 2005 general elections.
In Ealing Southall, Labour's Virendra Sharma was declared elected, and promptly termed the result as a "humiliating rebuke" to the Conservative party led by David Cameron, whose five visits to the constituency had made it into a prestigious contest. The results have been described as "a night of severe disappointment" for Cameron.
Political commentator Nick Assinder said: "The outcome will contribute to the mutterings over the direction Mr. Cameron is taking the Conservatives and provide some ammunition for those in the party who believe they simply are not making the sort of advances needed to put them on the road to victory at the next general election".
The result was a repeat of the 2005 general election outcome with the Liberal Democrat candidate Nigel Bakhai returning second highest votes. Despite the high-profile campaign, Conservative candidate Tony Lit came third, with a reduced number of votes than the party got in 2005.
In 2005, Labour Piara Singh Khabra had won the seat by a margin of 11,440 votes. On Friday, Sharma's majority was slashed to 5000. Observers attributed this to the lower turnout in the by-election than that in the 2005 general election.
Soon after being declared elected, Sharma said: "I am humbled by the trust reposed in me by the people of Ealing Southall. This is a great result for our new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It is policies that win elections, not slick PR.
"We never took this area for granted and we will never take this area for granted. David Cameron staked his reputation on this by-election and the people of Southall and Ealing have given their verdict tonight. We don't trust the Tories to represent us. They don't stand for us".
Claiming gains after finishing third, Conservative candidate Tony Lit said: "This is a positive result for the Conservative Party. Yes, we haven't won it but we have moved in the right direction. David Cameron's Conservative Party is the 21st century party and it is the party, which is going to be governing after the next General Election, I firmly believe it.
"This is a by-election that always seemed a one horse race and we have made sure that it wasn't a one horse race this time. Labour has seen the majority slashed, this constituency is turning into a marginal seat. "
Liberal Democrats' Bakhai, who retained his second position, said: "The real disappointment in this by-election is for David Cameron. He put his name on the ballot paper and he came third."
In Sedgefield, Labour's Phil Wilson won by a margin of 7000 votes. In 2005, the outgoing MP, Tony Blair, had won with a margin of over 18,000 votes. The Liberal Democrats came second while the Conservative candidate was reduced to the third place.
A delighted Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said that the two election results will "bring a spring in our step", but refused to be drawn into speculation whether the results will inspire Brown to order an early general election, as widely speculated.
Detailed figures of the two results showed that even though Labour won, the vote share of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives had increased.
The by-election in Ealing Southall, in west London, was triggered by the death of Piara Singh Khabra on June 19. The Sedgefield constituency in Durham County went to the polls following the resignation of Tony Blair as prime minister and MP.
Campaigning in Ealing Southall was marked by allegations of dirty tricks, defections and scuffles. The list of candidates in the fray was predominantly of Indian or Asian origin, reflecting the constituency's large minority of Indian-Punjabi origin comprising Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims.