There were 9 principal by-elections on Thursday, the Lib Dems stood candidates in 6 of these and 2 new Lib Dem councillors were elected.
One by-election was not even contested as Lib Dem candidate Raymond Payne was automatically elected in Oakham South on Rutland County Council as the only candidate on the ballot paper – gaining the seat from the Conservatives! This shows why we must always stand a candidate. You never know what might happen. Congratulations to Raymond the local team in Rutland.
The other Lib Dem victory came in South Somerset District Council where newly elected Councillor Barbara Appleby held the seat of Brympton increasing the Lib Dem share of the vote and getting over half of the total votes cast. Well done to Barbara and South Somerset Lib Dems on a great hold.
South Somerset DC, Brympton
Liberal Democrat (Barbara Appleby): 582 [58.6% +4.5%]
Conservative: 251 [25.3% -11.3%]
Green: 71 [7.1% from nowhere]
Labour: 61 [6.1% -3.2%]
Independent: 29 [2.9% from nowhere]
Elsewhere there were several excellent showings from Lib Dem candidates.
On Warwickshire County Council Lib Dem Thom Holmes finished a strong second place in Arden ward – received 854 votes and increasing the Lib Dem share of the vote by 24%. Well done to Thom and the team on jumping into a strong second place and developing the ward.
Warwickshire CC, Arden
Conservative: 1609 [59.3%, -14.7%]
Liberal Democrat (Thom Holmes): 854 [31.5%, +24.3%]
Labour: 251 [9.2%, -0.8%]
On North Tyneside DC our candidate Jay Beyer helped the Lib Dems to a good third place in Camperdown ward – having not stood at all the previous election. Thank you to Jay for giving voters the opportunity to vote Lib Dem.
North Tyneside DC, Camperdown
Labour: 873 [59.0% -9.3%]
Conservative: 388 [26.2%, +1.9%]
Liberal Democrat (Jay Beyer): 124 [8.4%, from nowhere]
Green: 58 [3.9%, -3.4%]
UKIP: 36 [2.4%, from nowhere]
Thank you to Haren Thillainathan for standing for the Lib Dems in Tooting Broadway ward in Wandsworth LBC. Labour held the seat but importantly Lib Dems were given the opportunity to vote for the party they support.
Wandsworth LBC, Tooting Broadway
Labour: 1,429 [62.2%, +1.6%]
Conservative: 491 [21.4%, +2.8%]
Green: 285 [12.4%, -2.5%]
Liberal Democrat (Haren Thillainathan): 94 [4.1%, -2.0%]
Finally in the Wirral, thank you to Charlie Houghton for representing the Lib Dems and increasing the Lib Dem share of the vote in Liscard ward.
Wirral MDC, Liscard
Labour: 1,304 [64.8%,+11.2%]
Conservative: 370 [18.4%, -1.5%]
Green: 172 [8.5%, -1.8%]
Liberal Democrat (Charlie Houghton) :167 [8.3%, +3.2%]
Elsewhere the Lib Dems did not contest by-elections on Coventry, Hyndburn and Breckland Councils.
A full breakdown of these results can be found on ALDCs website here.
* Charles Quinn is Campaigns Organiser for ALDC and a local councillor in Hull.
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7 Comments
Our lack of candidates in many by elections over now several months is not quite pronounced. Are so many of our local parties moribund?
Meant now instead of not.
“This shows why we must always stand a candidate. You never know what might happen.”
For paper candidates, the above is a warning to NOT stand!
Ian, in one word “Yes”
Jim: paper candidates essential otherwise we will never ever get “Moribund” places off the ground.
Have some sympathy with Jim Dapre’s comment. There will be more than a few Lib Dem local parties, especially those without a robust candidate approval process, which rue the day they put up paper candidates on the assumption they wouldn’t get in.
When I first joined the party, back in the early 70s, we could be assured of getting 10-12% in any parliamentary by-election. Now we can win some, though more because people despise Johnson than like us – many of them don’t even know our leader’s name. In the others we are very lucky if we are in the top three and assorted independents often get more support than we do.
May I add as a significant win, Hampstead Town, London, long held by the Tories, but where we snatched it from a short term gain by Labour. This was achieved only because of London Region efficiency and the well-oiled by-election machinery under the direction of the Camden Lib Dem team. We threw resources and people power into it. We are energised and motivated to grow these so we all stand a better chance of winning in future prospects.
Editor – I can forward quite a funny cartoon from our local paper that illustrates the scale of win. I can’t seem to be able to attach it here.