Home and dry

BETTING: IT’S Parliamentary by-election day tomorrow, with two signpost ballots being held at Clacton and, nearer to home, Heywood and Middleton.

With the General Election next May looming ever nearer, the major parties will be desperate for signs of encouragement.

UKIP are the most upwardly-mobile political party and their Tory defector Douglas Carswell is 50-1 ON to win in Clacton tomorrow.

It might not be any closer down the road because this is a Labour stronghold and has been for years.

Labour candidate Liz McInness is 19-1 ON to be elected, with UKIP man John Bickley next-best at 16s. It’s a whopping 250-1 bar those two.

Looking further ahead, Labour are 4-5 to win the next General Election with the Conservatives 6-5 and UKIP 100s.

This column doesn’t side with any party, but there is no doubt the bookies should add another ‘0’ to the UKIP price of actually winning the election.

As much as UKIP are gathering support at speed, the best they can hope for next May is picking up a number of seats as a launchpad from which to challenge Britain’s two dominant parties.