The Bassetlaw by-election, 1968 was a parliamentary

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the constituency of Bassetlaw held on 31 October 1968. It was caused by the death of the former Labour Member of Parliament, Fred Bellenger. The

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate,

Joe Ashton Joseph William Ashton (9 October 1933 – 30 March 2020) was a British Labour Party politician who was known for his defence of the rights of Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) against the demands of the left wing of the party to subject them ...

, was a Sheffield city councillor. His

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

opponent was

Jim Lester Sir James Theodore Lester (23 May 1932 – 31 October 2021) was a British Conservative Party politician. Parliamentary career Born in Nottingham in May 1932, Lester first stood for Parliament in a by-election at Bassetlaw in 1968, when he al ...

, a Nottingham businessman. The Liberal party decided against contesting the seat for financial reasons. There was one independent, Tom Lynch of the National Union of Small Shopkeepers, who campaigned for a coalition of all the parties and the end of the fivepenny post. He fell five times short of retaining his deposit (only doubly short since 1985). Early reports suggested a low turnout was likely, due to voter disenchantment with the major parties, and Labour had some reason to fear its supporters staying away. Pit closures were an important issue in a seat with a large mining sector vote. Ashton argued that the Labour government's approach, which included redundancy payments to miners over the age of 55, was better than the approach of the Conservatives when they were in power. The other major issues were reported as taxes, prices, employment and education. Bellenger had had a majority at the last general election of 10,428. The seat would require a swing of 11.6 per cent at a time when opinion polls put the Conservatives 7.5 per cent ahead nationally. Conservatives had lately achieved comparable swings to 11.6% in by-elections in

Nelson and Colne Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

and

Oldham West Oldham West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham in the north-west of Greater Manchester. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament ...

as economic conditions made the government very unpopular. On the day, Labour retained the seat but the majority was slashed to 740 votes. Commentators suggested that although this was a bad result for Labour ("If Labour's grip on Bassetlaw, a bedrock citadel of theirs for 44 years, is reduced to a perilous hanging-on by the fingernails, they cannot fail to be unnerved") they could take hope from the fact that there was a better swing and result compared to earlier, more ominous, by-elections.David Wood, "Labour majority cut to 740 at Bassetlaw", ''The Times'', 1 November 1968.

References

{{By-elections to the 44th UK Parliament 1968 elections in the United Kingdom 1968 in England 20th century in Nottinghamshire By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Nottinghamshire constituencies Bassetlaw District October 1968 events in the United Kingdom