There were 4 principal council by-elections this week. Unusually there were 2 on Wednesday and then 2 on Thursday. But it was great to see Lib Dem candidates in most elections and some very positive results too.
Beginning with Wednesday night – there were two elections on Haringey London Borough Council.
Thank you to David Schmitz and David Vigoureax for standing in South Tottenham and White Hart Lane wards respectively and giving hundreds of Lib Dem supporters in the area a Lib Dem option on the ballot paper.
Labour held both wards. But in both elections the result was tight behind them. In White Hart Lane in particular we were just a few dozen votes off second place.
Haringey LBC, South Tottenham
Labour: 1258 (68.2, +4.6)
Conservative: 286 (15.4%, +0.4%)
Green Party: 235 (12.6%, -3.3%)
Liberal Democrats (David Schmitz): 71 (3.8%, -1.8%)
Haringey LBC, White Hart Lane
Labour: 1081 (59%, +1.6%)
Conservative: 289 (15.8%, +3.7%)
Green Party: 247 (13.5%, new)
Liberal Democrats (David Vigoureux): 215 (11.7%, +1.4%)
On Thursday night there was another London by-election with Vauxhall ward being contested on Lambeth LBC. Here Lib Dem candidate Fareed Alderechi pulled off a fantastic performance – increasing our vote share by 17% and jumping from fourth to a very close second – just a couple of hundred off winning and setting the ward up for the future.
Well done to Fareed and the Lib Dem team in Lambeth. It shows what we can achieve in by-elections if we make sure we stand a candidate every time and campaign hard. Labour held the ward – but with a much reduced majority and a 11% drop in their vote!
Lambeth LBC, Vauxhall
Labour: 595 (42%, -11.1%)
Liberal Democrats (Fareed Alderechi): 395 (27.9%, +16.8%)
Green Party: 256 (18.1%, -2.1%)
Conservative: 160 (11.3%, -4.3%)
Socialist Party: 9 (0.6%, 0.6%)
The final by election this week was on Tamworth BC in Amington ward. Sadly there was no Lib Dem candidate in this election and Labour held the ward despite a large fall in vote share.
Tamworth BC, Amington
Labour: 669 (42.9%, -7.8%)
Conservative: 526 (33.7%, -15.6%)
Independent: 242 (15.5%, new)
Reform: 98 (6.3%, new)
UKIP: 25 (1.6%, new)
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.