Oldham East & Saddleworth by-election result

The results are in, and it's a fairly unsurprising outcome that all but the most excitable political commentators have been predicting for weeks:

LAB - 42.1
LD - 31.9
CON - 12.8
UKIP - 5.8

No real surprises for those who felt the Liberal Democrats were never seriously in the contest, but there will be some disquiet within the third-placed party ranks as to the 'gentle' campaign run by the Conservatives.

Reaction from the party leaders below:

ED MILIBAND - Labour leader
"This is the first step in a long journey for Labour. But more importantly, I hope the government will listen to what they've said about those key issues. I think the voters have sent a very clear message. They've said to the government: 'Think again on VAT, think again on the trebling of tuition fees, think again on the police cuts that are going to affect their communities"

NICK CLEGG - Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister
"This was a very hard-fought contest but we were not able to gain this Labour seat on this occasion. I am proud of each and every one of the hundreds of activists and volunteers who have brought the fight to Labour's front door in a way that will have confounded our critics. It was always going to be a big ask to take this seat from Labour, given the circumstances. We are undertaking some enormously difficult decisions because Labour left Britain's economy in a mess"

DAVID CAMERON - Prime minister and Conservative leader
"I think we fought a good campaign. Our candidate, Kashif Ali, was a strong candidate, I was one of the first prime ministers for many many years to campaign personally in an English by-election. I enjoyed doing that, I'm proud of the campaign we fought. But of course we started in third place, we ended in third place, and that's often the way with by-elections"

Oldham and Saddleworth by-election- A Tory Perspective

Ring the bell, its by-election time! The Oldham by-election, in the wake of the dishonest Phil Woolas’ annulled victory, is fast looming. On January 13th the voters of the Oldham and Saddleworth constituency will be granted the opportunity to punish Labour for the dirty campaign in the run up to the 2010 General Election (a campaign in which Labour won by 103 votes).

It looks like time for the Liberal Democrats to get some sweet revenge, but most wouldn’t bet on it. I certainly won’t. The Liberal Democrats have lost well over half their national support since last May after having ostensibly signed up to the Coalition’s tuition fee rises and “nasty cuts”.

Labour’s bleating over the Coalition’s “savage cuts” of 3.3 % in an attempt to deal with the £155 billion yearly deficit seems to have penetrated the thick skulls of the witless British voters. Accordingly, Labour are sitting pretty with 41% opinion poll ratings (far far above the 9% who said they would vote Lib Dem if an election were held tomorrow). If the Lib Dem candidate Elwyn Watkins wins on Thursday I’ll eat my hat.