January 15, 2014 12.00 pm This story is over 122 months old

Lincoln tipped as battleground in general elections

Strong competition: Lincoln is tipped to be a closely-fought contest between the Conservatives and Labour in the May 2015 general elections.

Lincoln is tipped to be a closely-fought contest between the Conservatives and Labour in the May 2015 general elections.

A BBC research report selected 49 seats from the 100 most marginal seats from 2010 general election, and Lincoln was named one of the battlegrounds across Britain where the 2015 election will be decided.

The report expects a close fight in Lincoln because the current MP Karl McCartney won the seat for the Conservatives in 2010 with a swing of 5.9% — a majority of 1,058 votes.

Lincoln was previously represented by Labour MP Gillian Merron, who was a minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

“Many commentators would regard [Lincoln] as a bellwether seat – the city has elected an MP from the main governing party at Westminster since October 1974,” according to BBC’s marginal constituency profile for Lincoln.

“Lincoln is one of Labour’s key target seats in the East Midlands. The party regained control of the city council in 2011 and increased its majority in subsequent local elections.”

In 12 of the last 17 elections, 90% or more seats stayed with the party defending them. Even in Labour’s 1997 win, more than 70% of seats remained with the incumbent party.

Lincoln solicitor Lucy Rigby will be running for Labour against elected Conservative MP Karl McCartney in the 2015 general elections.