Oldham East and Saddleworth By-election voters soundly reject the coalition

Labour's Debbie Abrahams won the Oldham East By-election by a majority of 3558,with 43% share of the vote, higher than when Labour first won the seat in 1997. The Tories came a bad third with only 4.440 votes. Cameron urged his voters to switch to help the Lib Dems save face and this failed spectacularly. In any other by-election the Lib Dems would have romped home, but these are different times. The Lib Dems have been placed in a difficult situation by the Tory led coalition by acting as "fall guys" for the unpopular policies and broken promises and they have paid a heavy price. The collapse of the Tory vote shows the real concern by voters of the direction of travel Britain is taking.The coalition has no mandate to govern Britain and voters have no confidence in the massive cuts agenda hitting the vulnerable and majority of people whilst the banksters get away with causing the recession,enjoying big bonuses.