Colin Rallings, ITV Elections Analyst on 1st March 2013

The wider political impact of parliamentary by-elections often turns out to be more important than the actual result – and Eastleigh is likely to be no exception to that rule.

Both the coalition parties saw their share of the vote drop by about a third compared with the 2010 general election.

But because they started ahead, and because they are so well-entrenched on the ground in the constituency, the Lib Dems managed to keep their noses in front.

Watch: Nick Clegg: ‘We have won a stunning victory’

Neither Huhne nor Rennard proved to be a sufficiently strong influence on voters to undo years of building up a local organisation and running a well-regarded council.

Since 2010 the Lib Dems have consistently done rather better at the ballot box than in the opinion polls, and Eastleigh confirms that they have simply lost ground rather than been condemned to the electoral scrapheap…click here to continue reading the original article