1976 Rotherham by-election

The Rotherham by-election of 24 June 1976 was held after the death of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Brian O'Malley. Labour held on to the seat in the by-election.

Results

Rotherham by-Election, 1976^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Crowther	14,351	50.69	−13.89
	Conservative	Douglas Hinckley	9,824	34.70	+12.64
	Liberal	Beth Graham	2,214	7.82	−5.53
	National Front	George Wright	1,696	5.99	New
	World Grid Sunshine Room Party	Peter Bishop	129	0.46	New
	English National	Robin Atkinson	99	0.35	New
Majority			4,527	15.99	−26.51
Turnout			28,313
	Labour hold		Swing

Aftermath

The result was significant as it meant that the Labour government retained a majority of one in the House of Commons.^[2] However although Labour had held the seat, The Glasgow Herald noted that the voters had sent the party a "sour message". In a seat that had been considered safe for Labour, their majority dropped by over 11,000 votes and there was a 13.3% swing to the Conservatives. Moreover, the reduced turnout was taken by the newspaper as suggesting some Labour supporters had failed to come out and vote for their party. The newspaper thought that the Prime Minister James Callaghan, would be "very concerned" by this fall in support and by the size of the National Front candidate's vote.^[2]

References

^ "1976 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Labour win - but 13% swing to the Tories". The Glasgow Herald. 25 June 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 17 April 2021.