With an overall increase in turnout of 4.9% throughout the Northfield constituency of Kings Norton, Longbridge, Northfield and Weoley wards, voters in Thursday’s local election returned some interesting polls.
The Conservatives held their seats in Northfield and Weoley by very slim margins (54 and 12 votes respectively), while more convincing Labour majorities saw them taking Longbridge (maj. 447) and Kings Norton (maj. 337) from the tories.
Throughout Birmingham, The Labour Party gained 14 seats at the expense of the Conservatives (6 seats), Liberal Democrats (7) and Respect (1). The Labour Party now holds 55 seats on Birmingham City Council but  failed to reach the 50% mark needed to take overall control. The Conservative / Lib Dem coalition therefore retains control of the council with 63 seats between them.
Here we have a few facts and figures showing how results in the Northfield constituency (An average of results from Kings Norton, Longbridge, Northfield and Weoley Wards) compare to those city-wide. * Disclaimer:Â We’re not political analysts here, but hope this is helpful and we at least had fun playing with pie charts! ;D
Share of Vote
The Conservatives retained a larger percentage of the vote in Northfield constituency than they did citywide, with Labour faring less well here. The Conservative and Labour parties shared almost 85% of the poll in Northfield, compared to just 76% across the whole of Birmingham. The Liberal Democrats performed significantly less well here with just 4.9% of Northfield’s votes, compared to 15% for the whole council.
Percentage Change
Across Birmingham, polls returned a large increase in the share of the vote since 2007 for the Labour party, with all others remaining the same or making losses. In Northfield constituency, however, both the Conservative and Labour parties gained, mainly at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, with their share of the vote decreasing by a huge 16.6%
The Swing
The citywide swing from Conservative to Labour (8.1%) was not reflected in results across the Northfield constituency where the swing was just 6.1%. Labour fared best in Longbridge where a 7.9% swing from Conservative helped them secure the seat, and Northfield, where a 6.5% swing from Conservative brought them within 54 votes of taking a third ward. The overall pattern of movement was similar, however.
So, it seems that this election was a two party battle in the Northfield constituency, and it will be interesting to see how things might change before next year’s local election is held. The Liberal Democrats did very poorly here, even being pushed into fourth place by the British National Party in Kings Norton, Longbridge and Northfield.
