Thursday was one of the best nights for Lib Dem by-election results in recent years!
Out of 4 principal council by-elections we made gains in 3 – winning seats from both Labour and the Conservatives. In the other we moved forwards from fourth place to second place!
There is so much to celebrate this week!
In Dudley, Cllr Ryan Priest and the local Lib Dems gained Cradley & Wollescote ward from Labour by winning over 50% of the vote and a 14% increase in Lib Dem vote share.
Congratulations to Ryan and the team. Ryan just missed out on the ward by 21 votes in May’s local elections. Persistence has paid off and with the fantastic win he has become the first Lib Dem councillor on Dudley MBC.
The campaign also received support from an ALDC Fighting Fund Grant.
Dudley MBC, Cradley & Wollescote ward
Liberal Democrat (Ryan Priest): 1321 (52.2%, +14.3%)
Labour: 771 (30.5%, -8.2%)
Conservative: 353 (14%, -4.8%)
Green Party: 79 (3.1%, -0.2%)
TUSC: 5 (0.2%, -0.7%)
Lib Dem GAIN from Labour
Our next gain comes from Norfolk County Council where Cllr John Crofts gained Freebridge Lynn division from the Conservatives. This was another stunning victory made all the more impressive by the fact that we did not stand in the division the last time it was contested in 2021!
Congratulations to John and the Lib Dem team in Norfolk. Coming from nowhere to winning – leapfrogging both the Green Party and Labour – shows that people want a Lib Dem option on the ballot paper and we can achieve amazing things with hard work.
Norfolk CC, Freebridge Lynn division
Liberal Democrats (John Crofts): 669 (38.4, +38.4%)
Conservative: 539 (31%, -33.7%)
Green Party: 418 (24%, +4.3%)
Labour: 115 (6.6%, -9%)
Lib Dem GAIN from Conservative
Three was the magic number this week as we made yet another gain on East Sussex Country Council as Cllr Brett Wright beat the Conservatives in Meads division. With this loss the Conservatives also lost overall control of the council!
Congratulations to Brett and the local Lib Dem team. Yet another fantastic result which saw the Lib Dem vote share increase by 10%! A superb result.
East Sussex CC, Meads division
Liberal Democrats (Brett Wright): 1649 (50.1%, +10.1%)
Conservative: 1361 (41.3%, -4.3%)
Labour: 157 (4.8%, -1.1%)
Green Party: 127 (3.9%, -2.2%)
Lib Dem GAIN from Conservative
There was also a by-election in Reading, and though we did not win this time, our candidate Marie French and the team worked incredibly hard and moved the Lib Dems forward from 4th place to 2nd place with an 11.4% increase in vote share – leapfrogging Labour and the Green Party.
Congratulations to Marie and Reading Lib Dems. We now have a great base to build from in the ward.
Reading BC, Norcot ward
Labour: 929 (58.2%, +0.2%)
Liberal Democrats (Marie French): 280 (17.5%, +11.4%)
Conservative: 209 (13.1%, -4.8%)
Green Party: 101 (6.3%, -3.6%)
Independent: 49 (3.1%, -0.3%)
TUSC: 28 (1.8%, -0.1%)
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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3 Comments
This week we can shout. Great performance.
I’d like to thank fellow Liberals from across the Midlands area who came and helped us win in Dudley . Kind donations too we’re received in funding the campaign,generous people thank you!
Yes these are great results, but before we get too excited please bear in mind that this is only one week’s results. We had quite good results on the 7th October 2021 winning four out of seven seats, but the following week we got poor results even losing a seat to the Tories. This week’s results may well indicate a boost in our fortunes (due no doubt to success in the national by-electIon). Let’s hope so – time will tell.