Key election battleground?

WARRINGTON South looks set to be a key battleground at the next General Election, with both Labour and Conservative seeing it as crucial to the overall result nationally.
Figures released by the Tories following the borough council elections suggest an increase of 33 per cent in the Conservative share of the vote in the constituency compared with 10 per cent nationally.
They also indicate a 10 per cent swing from Labour to Conservative, compared with a five per cent national figure.
The swing from Liberal Democrat to Conservative is put at 15 per cent, compared with a national swing of five per cent.
At Hatton, Stretton and Walton, Tory Paul Kennedy (pictured) achieved a 40 per cent swing to seize the seat of experienced Liberal Democrat Peter Walker – believed to be the highest Lib-Dem to Tory swing in the country.
These figures contrast starkly with those from Warrington North where there was no discernible increase in the Tory share of the vote, nor of any significant swing to the party from either Labour or Liberal Democrat.
Council election voting does not necessarily provide a guide as to how people would vote in a Parliamentary election but the Conservatives see the results as a positive sign that they could regain a seat they have always regarded as rightfully theirs.
Warrington South first fell into Labour hands in 1992, when former leader of Warrington Borough Council Mike Hall overturned a 3,609 Tory majority to unseat Chris Butler by 191.
In 1997, Mr Hall moved to what was seen as the much safer Labour seat of Weaver Vale, but in fact current MP Helen Southworth romped home in Warrington South with a majority of 10,807.
Since then, however, she has seen her majority fall to 7,387 in 2001 and 3,515 at the last election in 2005.
It will not have escaped the notice of either Labour or Conservative number-crunchers that Mrs Southworth’s majority is now lower than that of the Tories when they lost the seat.