Four principal council by-elections were contested last Thursday. UKIP slumped to third place in Bocking ward in Essex (CC) in their attempt to defend the seat as the Conservatives polled 34.3% to win the seat back having lost it by 20 votes two years ago. In addition, UKIP suffered a 5.3% drop in their vote share from 2013 as they finished 119 votes adrift of Labour to finish third.
Elsewhere Labour polled over 70% in holding seats in St Pancras & Somers town and Selhurst wards in the London boroughs of Camden and Croydon.
Also, in Brent (LB) the Conservatives hung on to their seat in Kenton with a 51.6%, despite Labour increasing their vote share by 7.3% from the ward’s 2014 election.
Update: Lib Dem candidates were fielded in the contests in Brent, Croydon and Camden, with the three candidates polling 3.3%, 3.1% and 4.7% respectively. The party’s vote share saw minor decreases in all three of these wards (3%, 2.9% and 1.9%).
* ALDC is the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners
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5 Comments
No mention of the Liberal Democrats in the article so for clarity, here are the figures:
Brent, Kenton 70 votes = 3.3% share – a fall of 11% since 2010
Camden, St Pancras & Somers Town 96 votes = 4.7% share – a fall of 15% since 2010
Croydon, Selhurst 65 votes = 3.1% share – a fall of 15% since 2010
Bocking, Essex – no Liberal Democrat candidate
The Conservatives retain the lead in this week’s Ashcroft National Poll, conducted over the past weekend. The Tories are unchanged since last week on 34%, with Labour down a point at 30%, UKIP up one at 15%, the Greens up one at 8%, and the Liberal Democrats down two at 5%, putting them level with the SNP, who are up one point.
Are we allowed to panic now or do we wait till we hit 4% ? I see the UK polling report average has us on 7%, even 8% being to much to sustain.
Caracatus: as you know we do not have to worry, there is going to be a surge, the Labour vote is going to collapse, our record in government will be explained and our vote will shoot up, what from 5 -6%.! I am fed up with these statements and have been for nearly two years during which time our opinion poll ratings have consistently fallen year by year. It is the same old guff from the leadership and it is extreemely difficult to have any faith in this Ashdown led campaign.
Even at this very late stage we need changes in personnel and presentation.
The LibDems are on 5% in Wales according to Roger Scully of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre. His afterthought suggests that “The Liberal Democrats would lose all their three current seats on this projection (Cardiff Central to Labour, Brecon & Radnor to the Conservatives, and Ceredigion to Plaid Cymru).” At least this is a swing to three different parties. Source: http://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/electionsinwales/
So in two boroughs where we had 16 and 13 councillors up to May 2014 but went down to 1 in each, in those elections, our vote fell. According to ALDC by a minor decrease of 3%, 2.9% and 1.9%. According to arithmetic our vote was down by between two thirds and three quarters. By elections where until the disaster for Liberal Democracy that has been Nick Clegg, we always did better than in all out elections because people in neighbouring Wards and councils rallied round. Now I think there is no-one left to rally round. Will the man ever own up to his culpability?