 Labour recognised that the seat was vulnerable but hoped that Latham's good constituency reputation would give him a personal vote.Wheeler, who needed a 3.3% swing to win, campaigned on giving the many council tenants in the constituency the ability to manage their own flats.The result turned out to be so close that it went to four recounts, and the overnight count had to be postponed until the morning; during the count the Returning Officer at one point thought he had 1,500 more ballot papers than were issued, although it turned out to be caused by a polling station erroneously reporting the number of papers issued.