she became disillusioned with the liberal party but not much on policy grounds. her only real difference came in her opposition to the liberal policy of britain joining the common market. in march 1967 she announced that she had left the liberal party to join the labour party. she did not contest the 1970 general election. two years later she did stand again as a candidate, but this time for the labour party in uxbridge. labour were hoping to regain a seat they had lost to the conservatives in 1970 and sykes had her best chance of being elected to parliament. however, the swing of 2% she achieved was not enough to gain the seat;