Last night’s by-elections gave us something to smile about.
Well done to the team in Blackpool who put up a candidate where we didn’t have one last time.
Bloomfield (Blackpool) result:
LAB: 57.6% (+12.8)
CON: 19.2% (-0.6)
UKIP: 15.1% (-10.0)
GRN: 4.1% (-4.6)
LDEM: 4.0% (+4.0)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016
Seriously, it is always worth putting up a candidate to keep people in the habit of voting Lib Dem.
And then there’s a solid hold in Rutland:
Whissendine (Rutland) result:
LDEM: 65.1% (-0.7)
CON: 26.8% (-7.4)
UKIP: 8.1% (+8.1)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016
And a massive swing and a near miss of a gain from the Tories:
Bondfields (Havant) result:
CON: 30.2% (-3.4)
LDEM: 27.3% (+16.0)
LAB: 21.6% (-6.9)
UKIP: 20.9% (+20.9)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016
Look at that scary UKIP vote from a standing start, too.
And a bit of a heartbreaker this one – a brilliant result to get 46.5% of the vote from a standing start. Missing out by 6 votes is tough for a team to take, though. They need to focus on the fact that they did fantastically to get so close and they have a real chance next time:
Alderholt (East Dorset) result:
CON: 47.5% (-15.4)
LDEM: 46.5% (+46.5)
LAB: 6.1% (+6.1)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 4, 2016
The icing on the cake is a very good town council gain from Labour in Hessle in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Congratulations to Cllr Matt Nolan who achieved a 10.5% swing since May. The result was:
Labour 150 (37%) (-13%)
Lib Dem 238 (58%) (+8%)
Ind 20 (5%) (+5%)
Well done to all.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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8 Comments
Since when did we not bother to report the actual votes but just percentages?
Still, people in Blackpool had the chance to maintain their “habit” of voting for us. Except that, it would seem, not very many did! But congrats to Rutland – Lord Bonkers will be delighted. Banquet in the Great Hall?
Tony
Alderholt (East Dorset) vote result:
CON: 384
LDEM: 376
LAB: 49
Whissendine (Rutland) vote result:
LDEM: 265
CON: 109
UKIP: 33
Bondfields (Havant) vote result:
CON: 207
LDEM: 187
LAB: 148
UKIP: 143
Bloomfield (Blackpool) vote result:
LAB: 450
CON: 150
UKIP: 118
GRN: 32
LDEM: 31
An excellent regain for the Lib Dem team that control Hessle Parish Council. We were clearly unlucky in 2015 when the General Election Turnout gave Labour two of the three seats. Now we have two and they are down to one!
The Nolan clan (and all the rest of the team too many to name) are clearly a fearsome fighting machine and deserve our thanks for years of hard work in the town.
This is a breath of fresh air.
Clearly, rural voters who would normally vote Tory at a general election are coming over to us at a local level once again. That is the message from Rutland and Dorset.
Rutland is a wealthy rural area, a kind of East Midlands Cotswolds. Alderholt is a semi-rural parish on the edge of Ringwood Forest just outside Fordingbridge. That region has a long history of very deep support for the Tory Party, and was once known rather unkindly as “South Africa on Sea”. We did extremely well to get anywhere close to winning there.
Bondfields is a good result, too. This is a 1950s council estate area that would be solid Labour in most parts of the country, but veers towards the Tories because it is Portsmouth.
One could describe these results as the first faltering steps back to where we used to be.
The results this year so far have actually contained several such results – it’s almost as if the public has felt “New Year, new voting”.
Lord Toni Groves has made me feel all emotoional …… mention of Lord Bonkers takes me back to reading Liberator, many many years ago!! Tony, if you don’t already, read Mark Packs regular e-mails, the Liberal Historical Society, some of the Liberals of past are like reading of Lord Bonkers for real!!
Good results generally – great that we fielded a candidate in every ballot. Labour-facing seats are clearly more difficult but we must face them and grow our team skills.
Mark Pack is not always right! By the way, Peter Kemp, why are you not still reading Liberator?
Tony Greaves