|
The 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election was a by-election held in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2008 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for constituency of Haltemprice and Howden. The by-election was triggered by the surprise and controversial resignation from the House of Commons of the sitting MP David Davis on 12 June 2008. Davis stated intention was to spark a wider public debate on the perceived erosion of civil liberties in the UK by recontesting his seat on this single issue platform, launched as the David Davis for Freedom campaign. The two other main political parties Labour and the Liberal Democrats declined to field candidates, Liberal Democrats as they supported Davis in this issue and Labour as they considered the election a "political stunt". Another minor party, the British National Party, ran no candidate as it supported Davis's stance. Davis was subsequently re-elected to his seat with 72% of the vote. Davis received 17,113 votes, with the closest challenge coming from the Green Party and English Democrats with 1,758 and 1,714 votes respectively. All other candidates lost their deposit due to polling less than 5% of the vote. Due to the unusual circumstances, the election broke several records, including the highest number of candidates running in a UK parliamentary by-election, the largest number of independents, the largest number of people losing their deposits and the best by-election results up to that point for the Green Party and English Democrats. While single issue by-elections such as this one were not unprecedented, they were rare in modern political times. As per election law, other candidates were free to stand on their chosen manifesto and not necessarily obliged to oppose or support Davis. Davis's use of a by-election in this way attracted both praise and criticism from politicians, the public and the media, with ''The Sun'' newspaper initially considering fielding a candidate to oppose Davis in support of anti-terrorism legislation. The Labour party's non-participation stance attracted specific criticism as appearing to be afraid to debate, following recent poor election results and a record low opinion poll result; while Davis attracted criticism as being vain, wasting public money, and for contesting the issue in his safe seat. ==Background== Davis, the then Shadow Home Secretary, announced his intention to resign on 12 June 2008, a day after a House of Commons vote passed the Counter-Terrorism Bill, which would extend the legal detention of terror suspects without charge to a maximum of 42 days. Explaining his actions, Davis stated he intended to spark a wider public debate about the perceived erosion of civil liberties by the then Labour government,〔 〕 which in the following week was launched as the 'David Davis for Freedom campaign'. Culture Secretary Andrew Burnham called on Davis to fund the cost of the by-election to the taxpayer, estimated at £80,000, from his own pocket.〔 〕 Davis had held the seat as a Conservative since its creation in 1997, having previously been MP since 1987 for the predecessor seat of Boothferry. The Conservative position at the time of Davis's resignation aligned with Davis in to opposing the 42 day extension vote, although Davis's decision to resign was characterised as personal and not a shadow cabinet decision, by Conservative leader David Cameron. The by-election followed a heavy defeat for Labour in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election in May 2008, who were previously the third party in this seat behind the second placed Liberal Democrats. The by-election also follows a previously failed attempt by the Liberal Democrats to target Davis as a high profile seat in a 'decapitation' strategy against the Conservatives in the previous general election of 2005. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Haltemprice and Howden by-election, 2008」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|