Ribble Valley by-election, 1991

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ribble Valley by-election, in Lancashire, England, was called in 1991 following the elevation of United Kingdom MP David Waddington to the House of Lords.

The seat was a safe Conservative constituency, based largely on the market town of Clitheroe, but at the time the controversial Margaret Thatcher government policy of "Poll Tax" was used by opposition parties as a policy against the Conservative candidate.

The then young Liberal Democrats had only been formed three years earlier, but had scored by-election "scalps" by winning formerly safe seats, although these were rarely held at subsequent general elections. Indeed, despite their victory at Ribble Valley, the LibDems lost the seat less than a year later at the the next election

Ribble Valley by-election, 1991
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Carr	22,377	48.5	+27.1
	Conservative	Nigel Evans	17,776	38.5	-22.3
	Labour	Josephine Farrington	4,356	9.5	-8.3
	Independent Conservative	David Brass	611	1.3
	Green	Halldora Ingham	466	1.0
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	278	0.6
	Liberal	Simon Taylor	133	0.3
	Independent - Corrective Party	Lindi St Claire	72	0.2
	Raving Loony Green Giant Clitheroe Kid	Stuart Hughes	60	0.1
Majority			4,601	10.0
Turnout			46,129	71.1
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

[edit] Notes on Candidates

Nigel Evans regained the Ribble Valley seat for the Conservatives in the 1992 election and has held it ever since.
Michael Carr remains the only successful Liberal Democrat MP in the current boundaries of Lancashire
The BBC Radio comedian Jimmy Clitheroe had a long-running series under the name The Clitheroe Kid during the 1950s and 1960s. Clitheroe is the main town in the constituency.