LABOUR won handsomely in Selby and Ainsty, a seat that it took on similar boundaries in 1997 and throughout the New Labour government.

The Liberals did very well in Somerton and Frome, not just getting their nose in front but destroying the Tories and the lines of destruction left by the disgraced David Warburton.

Conservatives were cock-a-hoop at not losing in Uxbridge, a seat Labour hasn’t won since the first Harold Wilson government in the 1960s.

The Greens won too, apparently, increasing their vote in every constituency. I’m sure even the SNP won somehow.

But what do these elections actually tell us?

Well, firstly, the tactical voting was ‘near perfect’, as noted by Professor John Curtice. All this talk about electoral pacts – which will get you expelled if you’re a party member – is rendered unnecessary.

Voters are an intelligent bunch and with the help of admittedly depressing ‘so and so can’t win here’ leaflets, they are working out who to vote for to beat the Tories, without the need for other candidates to stand aside.

This trend will surely be troubling our local blue MPs across Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and the urban constituencies on the south coast.

More troubling is the campaign ran in and the reaction to the Uxbridge by-election. I’m sure most people are sick of hearing of ‘ULEZ’ by now, but just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock, it’s the Ultra Low Emission Zone that is being implemented in Greater London.

It means it costs Simon Hoare £12.50 a day to drive into Westminster if he’s in a diesel older than 2015. Be careful with those tickets, Simon!

ULEZ was originally a Tory policy – Johnson first implemented it as mayor. Yet Labour determined to run a by-election campaign that not only ignored the scheme’s genesis, but failed to defend it as a policy that would prevent many children dying every year from poor air quality in the city.

It was a poor campaign strategy, and I hope Labour learn from it.

The lesson the Tories are taking away meanwhile is that they think they can win a general election by using ‘green’ as a wedge issue, making it a cost-of-living matter and battering Labour with it.

This is depressing. The world is boiling. Climate change should not be politicised.

We have little consensus in our politics. Saving the planet was the one thing. The fact is a key tool to tackle climate change is to make polluting activities cost more than greener alternatives. To make people and companies pay for the carbon they emit.

If politicians aren’t bold enough to continue this, we will be doomed.

GREG WILLIAMS
On behalf of Dorset Labour