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1986 Ryedale by-election

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1986 Ryedale by-election

← 1983 8 May 1986 1987 →

Constituency of Ryedale
Turnout67.3% (Decrease4.5%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Con
Lab
Candidate Elizabeth Shields Neil Balfour Shirley Haines
Party Liberal Conservative Labour
Popular vote 27,612 22,672 4,633
Percentage 50.3% 41.3% 8.4%
Swing Increase19.8% Decrease17.9% Decrease1.9%

MP before election

John Spence
Conservative

Subsequent MP

Elizabeth Shields
Liberal

The 1986 Ryedale by-election took place on 8 May 1986. The election was held on the same day as the 1986 local elections and the West Derbyshire by-election

It is the latest by-election to have just three candidates standing.

The seat was regained by the Conservatives the next year at the 1987 general election by John Greenway.

Background

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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 (according to Nigel Lawson) in "even committed supporters of the Government's economic strategy...insisting that reducing unemployment should now have priority".[1]

Result

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Ryedale by-election, 1986[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal (Alliance) Elizabeth Shields 27,612 50.28 +19.8
Conservative Neil Balfour 22,672 41.28 −17.9
Labour Shirley Haines 4,633 8.44 −1.9
Majority 4,940 9.00 N/A
Turnout 54,917 67.3 −4.5
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +19.0[3]

Previous General election

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General election 1983: Ryedale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Spence 33,312 59.2
Alliance (Liberal) Elizabeth Shields 17,170 30.5
Labour P Bloom 5,816 10.3
Majority 16,142 28.7
Turnout 56,838
Conservative win (new seat)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Nigel Lawson, The View from No. 11. Memoirs of a Tory Radical (Bantam, 1992), p. 641.
  2. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  3. ^ Chris Cook and John Ramsden (eds.), By-elections in British Politics (Routledge, 1997), p. 11.