The fightback begins

"We fought a good campaign in North East Hertfordshire," says David Kirkman. "I was selected as the candidate only in autumn 2009, and I did not have enough time to do all that I would have wished. I enjoyed working with the Labour Party in North East Hertfordshire. We co-ordinated my campaign with the local election campaign. So, it was gratifying that our two sitting councillors, who were up for re-election in Letchworth Garden City, retained their seats."

Parliamentary candidate David Kirkman with Clyde Millard

Parliamentary candidate for 2010, David Kirkman (left), with the Constituency Chair, Clyde Millard

"We had a number of problems to contend with," said Clyde Millard, who chairs the constituency Labour Party. "Our previous candidate resigned because of a conflict of interest with his role at the Primary Care Trust. So, David Kirkman was selected very late. In addition, boundary changes added new areas to the constituency which are likely to have increased the Tory vote.

"Nevertheless, it was disappointing to be pushed into third place behind the Liberal Democrats. The "Clegg bubble" may not have had the expected effect in the country as a whole, but it seems to have made a difference in Hertfordshire, where the Liberal Democrats did well even in seats previously held by Labour. But I have no doubt that this bubble will burst quite soon."

The result

The voters of North East Hertfordshire - or rather the 70% of them who voted - have spoken and the result was:

Oliver Heald (Conservative) 26995 (53.5%)
Hugh Annand (Liberal Democrat) 11801 (23.4%)
David Kirkman (Labour) 8291 (16.4%)
Adrianne Smyth (UKIP) 2075 (4.1%)
Rosemary Bland (Green) 875 (1.7%)

There were three other candidates who between them polled 388 votes (0.8%).

This is the first time since the formation of the constituency that the Conservatives have had an overall majority of the vote, having increased their share of the vote by 6.3 percentage points.

North Herts District Council Elections

Within this constituency, two Labour councillors were standing for re-election according to the three year-cycle of elections used by the Council: Lorna Kercher in Letchworth East and Gary Grindal in Letchworth Wilbury. They both retained their seats.

Elsewhere in the District Labour lost one seat to the Liberal Democrats.

Details of the three Labour councillors in this constituency are here.

Six other wards within the constituency had elections, but none of these changed hands.

Full results are on the North Hertfordshire District Council's website.

Don't miss out on your right to vote

A new register is compiled in the autumn of each year. A registration form is sent to each household by the District Council and must be completed and returned. If you do not do this, you will not be on the register, even if you were on it before or even if you are paying council tax to the District Council.

However, at other times of the year, if you are not on the electoral register, you can apply to be put on to it. This is called the "rolling register". You can get more information and download the form from your District Council's website. Alternatively, you can download the form from this website by clicking on the links below.

It is not impossible that there will be another election soon. So, if you are not on the register, don't wait until the new register is compiled, register now.

It's easy to vote by post

You can choose to have a postal vote, either for a specific election or permanently. You do not have to explain your reason for wanting to vote by post. Again, go to your District Council's website of download from the links below.

Proxy votes

In certain circumstances someone else can vote for you (proxy vote). If you live in East Hertfordshire, you can get more information from your District Council's website. If you live in North Hertfordshire you need to telephone your District Council on 01462 474000.

More information

For more information, click on the appropriate link below to go to your District Council website or download the appropriate form from the links below: