A solitary by-election this week to round out January, as head across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, a former Liberal/Lib Dem stronghold which provided us with a very pleasing result considering we hadn’t had a candidate in the ward since 2009. Overall in January, we stood candidates in 8 out of 10 by-elections, giving us a total vote of 13.2% (up 5.9% on previous corresponding elections), although this rises to 21.6% (up 9.9% on previous corresponding elections) if you look at the by-elections we fought. Proof, in case any of you needed it, that you should always stand a candidate!
A huge thank you to last night’s brilliant team of volunteers who make calls for these campaigns. ALDC’s grants are available to help in vital by-elections and are funded through vital fighting fund donations. If you can help us fight in even more wards, please donate here.
Isle of Wight UA, Central Wight – Conservative hold
Con 547 [49.7%; -25.5%]
LD Nick Stuart 286 [26.0%; +26.0%]
Grn 143 [13.0%; -5.9%]
Lab 101 [9.2%; 3.2%]
UKIP 24 [2.2%; +2.2%]
And so we head to the south coast and to the Isle of Wight, where we thank Nick Stuart for a very healthy second place, after not standing a candidate in the last two local elections on the island.
For many years, the Island was a Liberal stronghold, electing a Liberal MP to Westminster from February 1974 to 1987 in Stephen Ross, and was Lib Dem again in 1997 with Dr Peter Brand. Throughout that time, the island also regularly elected Lib Dems councils, but our success story ended in 2001 with the loss of both the MP and the council.
Ever since we’ve gradually fallen away, to the point where in the face of an organised Independent group we went down to 1 elected councillor in 2013. A slight improved in the face of the national swing to the Tories last May did, however, at long last, mark an end to the slide, and the team on the island were given an opportunity to test the (Fresh)water as Bob Seely resigned his Central Wight seat after replacing Andrew Turner as the MP in the 2017 general election.
After putting in a strong campaign, a campaign which involved UKIP informally withdrawing days before polling day in protest of their party leader, the team can be very pleased with a solid second place, providing hope that our historical strength on the island hasn’t completely vanished and that we can firmly establish ourselves, once again, as the natural contenders to the Tories. This result is especially pleasing considering all the money and resources the Greens have thrown at the party in local times!
Next week we have a couple of by-elections in Cornwall and Sunderland, as we get into a bumper set of February by-elections. See you all next week!
For a detailed list of this week’s results please click
here. If you would like more information on all the forthcoming by-elections and details on who to contact to help, click
here.
* ALDC is the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners
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4 Comments
Britain elects did a preview of the by election, well worth a read. It is also worth point out an interesting point about the Tory candidate
Defending for the Conservatives is an interesting choice of candidate. Steve Hastings, who fought Newport Central in last year’s council elections, was elected to Portsmouth city council as a UKIP candidate in 2014 representing Baffins ward. He joined the Conservatives in 2015, and despite moving to Brighstone in 2016 was still a Portsmouth city councillor until resigning once his nomination went in for this by-election.
http://britainelects.com/2018/01/25/preview-25-jan-2018/
It appears that many refugees from Deadkip are finding their true home in the Tory party.
In terms of population, the Isle of Wight is by far the largest constituency at Westminster. It shares with the smallest constituency – the former Western Isles, now known by its Gaelic name – having its boundaries set more by geographical isolation than by population.
Encouraging. However across the water at Weymouth there are two by elections next month and no Lib Dem candidates. By doing so we simply hand the field to Labour and the Greens.
How are those figures calculated? Over at PB.com they have different figures again!
http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2018/01/27/labconlds-all-see-vote-shares-up-ukipgreen-down-in-january-local-by-elections/