Ryedale by-election, 1986

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The Ryedale by-election took place on 8 May, 1986. It is the latest by-election to have just three candidates standing. The seat was regained by the Conservatives at the 1987 general election by John Greenway.

[edit] Background

In the spring of 1986 unemployment began rising at a greater rate than in previous years and the Conservative loss at Ryedale was a factor in "even committed supporters of the Government's economic strategy...insisting that reducing unemployment should now have priority".[1]

[edit] Result

Ryedale by-election, 1986
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Elizabeth Shields 27,612
Conservative Neil Balfour 22,672
Labour Shirley Haines 4,633
Majority 4,940
Turnout
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing 19%[2]
General Election 1983: Ryedale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Spence 33,312
Liberal Elizabeth Shields 17,170
Labour P Bloom
Majority 16,142 -
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Nigel Lawson, The View from No. 11. Memoirs of a Tory Radical (Bantam, 1992), p. 641.
  2. ^ Chris Cook and John Ramsden (eds.), By-elections in British Politics (Routledge, 1997), p. 11.