With the elections looming in just 2 weeks, we've been having a bit of a look at previous election results in the North Lincolnshire area and have found what looks to be the hottest contested seat. With the triumph of the Conservatives having been on a knife edge in the previous two elections it looks like May 2011 is going to be a nail biting and close run battle again. We are of course talking about Broughton and Appleby, which has been won and then held by the long standing Conservative candidates (Arthur Bunyan and Ivan Glover) in the last two elections. In the 2007 election where Labour took a hammering nationally and lost a lot of council seats to the Liberals and, in Scotland the SNP, the majority enjoyed by the Conservatives in Broughton was just 134 votes. Compare this to the previous election of 2003 which was again won by councillors Bunyan and Glover, where the majority was just 1 vote, and it all adds up to a close run and interesting campaign this year. Out of power nationally, Labour are tipped to do well in the local elections of May 5th. As regular contributors to this web site, many readers will be aware of the efforts being made by Labour Candidates Paul Redfern and Bernard Grainger in trying to win this seat for Labour. Bernard stood in the last election for Broughton and Appleby, again as a Labour candidate and came close, just 152 votes short of wrestling the seat from Arthur Bunyan. This year promises to be a close run competition with just Labour and Conservatives contesting the seat. With the focus of the campaign this year on local services and the potential impact of government spending cuts starting to be realised by local people it will be interesting to see if voter loyalty lies with the incumbent candidates or if the Labour candidates will be able to gain votes from people's general dissatisfaction with current conservative policy. A recent telephone survey of voters in the Broughton and Appleby last week provided the following results: Conservative 28 Labour 70 Unsure 45 None voters 15 Won't say 10 UKIP 3 From the figures provided its clear to see that over the next 3 weeks there is everything to play for in Broughton and Appleby with over 40% of voters making no clear indication of their voting preference. Interesting to see support for UKIP even though there is no candidate listed on the NLC web site for this ward. We'd be interested to hear from any one in Broughton and Appleby of their views, concerns and what would influence their voting choice in what is a key Scunthorpe battleground.