Hampshire set for another Lib Dem gain?

9.04.45pm GMT Sat 18th Feb 2006

Liberal Democrats scored a stunning by-election victory in Dunfermline recently - election success that could be repeated in Hampshire.

Hampshire voters will have an extra MP representing them in parliament after the next election and the signs are it could well be a Liberal Democrat.

Boundary changes mean that a new constituency - Meon Valley - will be created in the county and a new independent report says less than 2,000 votes separate the Lib Dems and the Conservatives in the area.

The report by Anthony Wells says the result in Meon Valley last May would have been:

Conservatives 21,568

Lib Dems 19,619

Labour 4,944

That is likely to make the area a key battleground between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories at the next election.

Related Link:

Guide to new electoral boundaries.