Today voters in the UK’s parliamentary constituency of Oldham East & Saddleworth will trudge back to the polls for a redo of their regularly scheduled poll in last May’s general election. The by-election marks the first electoral test of the UK’s governing Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. British pundits are eager for the results, which many foresee will indicate an unambiguous rejection of the coalition’s bold program of restoring fiscal stability by slashing public spending.
With the coalition parties’ standings in the opinion polls taking a hit thanks to the unpopular but necessary cuts they’ve made in the UK’s bloated social and military spending – the coalition’s junior partner, the LibDems, have borne the brunt of it, drubbed back into historically low single digits – this by-election is unwelcome.
