Losing by-elections is an expensive game. £4,500 down the drain.
The Liberal Democrats received less than 5% of the vote in Thursday’s Newark by-election, meaning they they forfeited the £500 deposit all candidates must provide in order to get onto the ballot.
This is the ninth time the Lib Dems have lost their deposit in a by-election during this parliament. While that’s bad news for the party, that’s a gain of £4,500 for the public purse.
Here’s how that money could be spent, if it was diverted to frontline services:
1. Employing a nurse for two-and-a-half months.
Catherine Yeulet/Catherine Yeulet
Starting salaries for graduate nurses are £21,000 a year. Those Lib Dem deposits could fund a newly-trained nurse through the tricky early months of their career.
2. Buying a dozen computers for schools.
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All-in-one computers are available for as little as £360, meaning those Lib Dem deposits would be enough to buy a dozen computers.
3. Restocking a public library with 450 new books.
OceanFishing/OceanFishing
Plenty of great books are available for £10 or less, so the lost Lib Dem deposits could help revitalise the book collection of a local library with hundreds of new publications.
4. Sending around 35 police officers out on duty for an extra shift.
Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
The Lib Dem by-election deposits could keep your town safe by subsidising approximately 35 extra police officers out on shifts lasting 10 hours each, based on the average pay for new recruits.
5. Funding a state pension for 39 weeks.
TrevorRoberts/TrevorRoberts
An elderly person could have their £113 state pension covered for almost an entire year with the Lib Dem deposits.
6. Pay the rent on this house for an entire year.
Right Move
Those Lib Dem funds would be enough to pay for a family to be rehoused in this West Yorkshire house for an entire year.
And in this case, there’s no deposit required.
Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/ways-to-spend-the-liberal-democrats-lost-deposits
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