This week saw 4 principal council by-elections. There were Lib Dem candidates in all 4 which is a really good benchmark to hit. In all elections the Lib Dem share of the vote moved forwards.
We also celebrated some very impressive gains in Town Council by-elections in Melksham and Chippenham. Congratulations to the local teams there.
Two by-elections took place in Newham LBC. Thank you to David Terrar (Boleyn ward) and Claire Pattie (Well End ward) for making sure there was a Lib Dem choice on the ballot paper. The Lib Dems had not contested the last election in both wards – so this is great progress. In Well End we jumped immediately to 3rd place leapfrogging both the Green Party and Reform UK.
Newham LBC, Boleyn ward
Independent: 1153 (42.5%, +42.5%)
Labour: 871 (32.1%, -27%)
Green Party: 572 (21.1%, +3.5%)
Conservative: 69 (2.5%, -15.6%)
Reform: 23 (0.8%, +0.8%)
Liberal Democrat (David Terrar): 22 (0.8%, +0.8%)
Independent GAIN from Labour
Newham LBC, Well End ward
Labour: 1659 (61.1%, +12.5)
Conservative: 739 (27.2%, +12.3)
Liberal Democrat (Claire Pattie): 138 (5.1%, +5.1%)
Green Party: 123 (4.5%, -4.5)
Reform: 58 (2.1%, -0.2)
Labour HOLD
On Norfolk County Council we had a great result in West Depwade ward – gaining an extra 7.4% of the vote and finishing just 250 votes away from topping the poll. Thank you and congratulations to Ian Spratt on a great result. The Green Party gained the ward from the Conservatives.
Norfolk CC, West Depwade
Green Party: 663 (29%, +19.7%)
Conservative: 582 (25.4%, -18.2%)
Liberal Democrat (Ian Spratt): 409 (17.9%, +7.4%)
Independent: 405 (17.7%, -6%)
Labour: 228 (10%, -2.8%)
On Rotherham DC, Lib Dem Matt Mears finished 3rd of 7 candidates in Dinnington ward with an increased Lib Dem share of the vote. Thank you to Matt for standing and well done on moving the Lib Dems forwards. The Conservatives held the ward.
Rotherham DC, Dinnington
Conservative: 1064 (42.7%, +6.5)
Labour: 820 (32.9%, +7.5)
Liberal Democrat (Matt Mears): 262 (10.5%, +1.5)
Independent: 196 (7.9%, -11.3%)
Reform: 61 (2.4%, +2.4%)
Green Party: 59 (2.4%, -7.7)
Yorkshire Party: 28 (1.1%, +1.1)
A full summary of all results can be found on the ALDC by-elections page here.
* Charles Quinn is Campaigns Organiser for ALDC and a local councillor in Hull.
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8 Comments
Well done to Ian Spratt for increasing the vote by 7.4% in Norfolk CC, West Depwade, but I am very concerned by the result. Why is it that we were ahead of the Green Party last time this ward was fought and yet the Green Party, rather than us, has surged by 19.7% to win? It it because the Green Party has a more distinctive and radical offering than we have?
The West Depwade result is in some ways even better than it looks because the Liberal Democrat vote increased in absolute terms (even though the turnout was smaller than in 2021), not just in percentage terms.
The Labour vote went down, which suggests that Labour supporters may be embracing tactical voting to some extent. Given the location of this division, on the border of Suffolk (where the Greens have been doing well lately) it’s perhaps no surprise that the main beneficiary of that tactical voting was the Green candidate, a strong candidate and former MEP.
But the really striking thing is the extent to which the Conservative vote collapsed. In 2021 the Conservative polled 1632 votes. May this be a taste of things to come.
Oh, and we can allow ourselves a quiet chuckle at the way in which the Conservatives’ love of undemocratic voting systems sometimes comes back to bite them. The “independent” (confusingly also named Spratt) was a former Conservative county councillor for the division. Presumably if he had not been standing many (or most) of his votes might have gone to the Conservative.
Something odd happened yesterday. By normal standards the Tories should have lost Dinnington as previous member was kicked off Council. Labour should not have lost in Newham of all places. The Greens meanwhile are spreading in rural areas, just like Maidstone last week.
Mel Borthwaite says re this Green gain ‘It it because the Green Party has a more distinctive and radical offering than we have? Sadly I have to agree with him. Our leadership seem to be unable to do the ‘vision thing’ I have been an activist since 1981 and Sir Ed’ s continuing silence on the damage being done to our economy and ability to travel by Brexit is getting to me and I have never been so de-motivated. Is he content to bumble along at ten percent in the polls or can we become a campaigning party again? I am not holding my breath!
This party is probably more radical and distinctive in some ways than the green one but too reticent to get those policies across like UBI for example, perhaps add nationalisation of water utilities into the mix and we have a healthy dose of social liberalism. I don’t know whether there were particular local issues in Norfolk like better rural public transport, their party picked up on it and campaigned vigorously. How well was the Lib Dem candidate and their campaign supported? It would be interesting to hear from someone on the ground in West Depwade. Something must have happened in Newham Boleyn for Labour to lose that one to an independent. This was the former home of West Ham Utd, always used to be solidly labour.
I live in a Green Target Ward & their fairly intensive campaign last Year was absolutely indistinguishable from a Libdems one. Their recent successes are based on simply imitating Us.
They have some advantages over The Libdems – because they are less well known & have very little history of power they have made less enemies. More Voters can see them as “Nice”.
All that said, there is no sign that they have broken out of the ghetto of Fringe Parties. The key sign to note is that Our Vote often goes up during General Election Campaigns whereas The Green have always fallen sharply, so far.
Council bye election in Dudley MBC on 3rd August postal votes arriving now so we are hard at it. Cradley and Wollescote our target ward 21 votes in it from Mays election . We are scrapping with Labour and hopefully squeezing the Tories to get Ryan Priest over the line this time. Help welcome after the Somerset contest on Thursday. Just email me [email protected] Wpuld be put first councillor on Dudley council for some years!
As Constituency Chair I’d like to say thanks for the mention of the two town council by-elections in the Chippenham constituency last Thursday. We are delighted for Jennie Westbrook in Melksham East and we’re loving ALDC’s headline “Pick Adam Ward And Win It” in Chippenham Sheldon. Congratulations to them both and thank you to teams in both branches for stepping up to support. Back to S&F next week.