2004 Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election

A by-election was held for the United Kingdom Parliament seat of Birmingham Hodge Hill, on 15 July, the same day as the Leicester South by-election. The by-election was called following the resignation of the sitting MP, Terry Davis, on 22 June 2004.[1] Davis had been appointed as Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

Hodge Hill constituency shown within Birmingham

The area has had a Labour MP since the 1950 general election, the only break being a Conservative Party victory at a 1977 by-election for the Birmingham Stechford constituency. Stechford returned to Labour at the 1979 general election.

At the by-election, the seat was retained by the Labour Party, and Liam Byrne became the MP, but with a vastly reduced majority with the seat becoming a marginal. The Liberal Democrat candidate Nicola Davies increased her party's share of the vote by over 26% and was only 460 votes behind.

The by-election was heavily contested by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, with both parties alleging "dirty tricks" by the other.[2]

Results

Turnout was 37.89%.

2004 by-election: Birmingham Hodge Hill[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Liam Byrne 7,451 36.5 -27.4
Liberal Democrats Nicola Davies 6,991 34.2 +26.1
Conservative Stephen Eyre 3,543 17.3 -2.7
Respect John Rees 1,282 6.3 New
National Front Jim Starkey 805 3.9 New
English Democrat Mark Wheatley 277 1.4 New
Christian Vote George Hargreaves 90 0.4 New
Majority 460 2.3 -41.6
Turnout 20,439 37.9 -10.0
Labour hold Swing

2001 result

From the 2001 general election.

2001 general election: Birmingham, Hodge Hill
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Terry Davis 16,901 63.9 -1.7
Conservative Debbie Lewis 5,283 20.0 -4.0
Liberal Democrats Charles Dow 2,147 8.1 -0.4
BNP Lee Windridge 889 3.3 New
People's Justice Perwaz Hussain 561 2.1 New
Socialist Labour Dennis Cridge 284 1.1 New
UKIP Harvey Vivian 275 1.0 -0.9
Muslim Party Ayub Khan 125 0.5 New
Majority 11,618 43.9
Turnout 26,465 47.9
Labour hold Swing

References
  1. Sessional Information Digest 2003-04, Hansard
  2. Nick Cohen (22 August 2004). "The Ghost of Enoch". The Observer. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  3. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 2001-2005 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
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