Election Results 2010

Peter Andras' statement: "I thank everybody who voted for Liberal Democrats in the constituency of Washington and Sunderland West. This was a vote for real positive change. While we did not win locally, and nationally our results are a bit dissapointing, I still hope that we are on the way to get closer to making the changes required by the country. I think that we can build on the result that we achieved in the general election and aim to improve our share of vote next time. I hope that by then we will have some form of proportional representation in place. This will make more likely that those who vote for Liberal Democrats in Washington and Sunderland West will be represented by their chosen MP in the Parliament."

The Liberal Democrats general election result in Washington and Sunderland West is 6,382 votes or 17.1% of the votes. This is within the range of our expectations based on earlier results (16-20%), and represents an additional 1% compared to the notional results calculated for the 2005 general elections. Of course, we had somewhat higher hopes, but still this is a good result.

The local election results are also good. Although we did not manage to win any of the seats in the local council we increased significantly our share of votes with the exception of Washington Central, but even here we kept our share of votes close to our previous result. In all wards we increased the number of our votes by over 300 votes, the biggest increase being in Washington South with an additional 943 votes (making the total count here 1,333 votes for Liberal Democrats). We managed to increase our share of votes to around or over 20% in all Washington wards and St Anne's ward as well. This is a promising result and we can build on it by aiming to get some council seats in next year's local elections. For this we will need to increase our vote share to over 35% of the votes. This will not be easy and will require active campaigning, but is not impossible, especially in wards with over 25% share of votes for Liberal Democrats (notably we managed to increase our share of votes by around 10% in some of the wards compared to our 2008 results).

Election issues

By clicking here you can see Peter Andras, the Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidate, speaking about election issues that are important for Washington and Sunderland West.

Election campaign

We are in the middle of the local and general election campaigns. The Liberal Democrats have candidates in all local election wards in the Washington and Sunderland West constituency. We have delivered many letters and leaflets, and given the current public opinion we hope to have really good results both in the local and general elections.

First leaders debate

The first debate of party leaders on 15th April provided an excellent energising momentum for the Liberal Democrat election campaign. Following the earlier great performance by Vince Cable MP in the debate of prospective chancellors, Nick Clegg MP won decisively the first debate of the party leaders. Polls immediately following the debate showed around or above 50% preference of the viewers for Clegg. Later, more general polls showed a massive surge of preference for Liberal Democrats among likely voters, even putting the Liberal Democrats slightly ahead of Labour.

Party Election Manifesto

The Election Manifesto of the Liberal Democrats was launched on 14th April. Liberal Democrats stand for fair taxes for everybody, fair chances for all children, a fair economy with sustainable growth and jobs, and last, but not least, for a fair deal for the whole country by cleaning up politics. Our key message is that only the Liberal Democrats can deliver the real positive change that people want.

The Washington Airplane Museum

The North East Aircraft Museum in Washington is an interesting place. It has a good range of old aircrafts, which are carefully restored and presented outside and also inside in the hangars. There are also various military related vehicles and a World War II inspired presentation by members of a local club. It is worth visiting for people with an interest in flight and aircrafts.

Electric cars

On 18th March it was officially announced that the Nissan Leaf electric cars will be built at the Nissan factory on the border of Washington and Sunderland. This is great news. Such electric cars represent the forefront of technological advance in the car industry. These cars will contribute a massively to the reduction of greenhouse gas pollution generated by current petrol and diesel cars. Their production is likely to be also a key contributor to a sustainable economic growth and job creation in Washington, Sunderland, and the larger Tyne and Wear area.

Public transport in Washington

Most of Washington was built as well designed new town in the 1960s with a focus on good access for motorists. Things changed since then and the importance of good public transport became increasingly evident as many from the original population reached and passed retirement age. Busses provide a good service in general and the double-carriage highways are in easy access everywhere. However the lack of a train line connection is perceived as a potential source of problem by some residents. In an age where train-based public transport is seen as key contributor to reducing of traffic congestion and air pollution (considering especially car-emitted greenhouse gases) the lack of train line access may become a severe limitation of sustainable local economic growth. Notably, there is a disused train line, passing next to the Nissan complex, and leading to the Pelaw metro station, which possibly could be considered for the purpose of establishing a train line connection for Washington.

Washington Liberal Democrat meeting

On Saturday, 6th March, Liberal Democrats of Washington met at the house of Liberal Democrat organisers David & Anne Griffin. The meeting was a great success with around 15 attendant party members and sympathisers. Peter Andras, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Washington and Sunderland West, came to the meeting as well. Many issues were discussed, inclusive those related to party politics, but also others of less political nature. Of course, often the discussion focused on the imminent local and national election campaigns.