Three principal council by-elections were held this week. In East Staffordshire (DC), Labour made a gain from UKIP in Stapenhill ward. They polled 44.3% and increased their vote share by 12.5% to take the seat and move their representation on the Council up to 13 Councillors. Hugh Warner polled 1.5% for the Liberal Democrats with the party not having a stood a candidate last year.
Elsewhere, there were two confortable holds for the Conservatives in Hambleton (DC) and North Yorkshire (CC). The Tories polled 48% and 48.3% in Northallerton South ward and Northallerton division respectively. There was no Liberal Democrat representation in either contest.
Next week, six principal Council by-elections will be taking place across England, Scotland and Wales. In Lewes (DC) Will Elliott will be hoping to secure a hold for the local Lib Dems in Lewes Bridge ward. In addition, Janet Baah will be the Lib Dem candidate as the party defend a seat on Lewes Town Council. The party will also be fielding candidates in contests in Lambeth (LB), Dorset (CC), Mid Suffolk (DC), Argyll & Bute (UA) and in two seperate by-election in Denbighshire (UA). There will also be a deffered election in Rushmoor (BC), although no Liberal Democrat candidate is standing.
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.
A big thank you as always to those who come every week to 23 New Mount Street in Manchester to make calls at ALDC’s By-election HQ, funded through fighting fund donations. If you can help us fight in even more wards, please donate here.
* ALDC is the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners
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4 Comments
Perhaps we should hide our head in shame, 18 votes at Stapenhill!!!!!
No sign of getting any progress at all in those places where we have hit total rock bottom, and there are many. It is a long road to travel. Will patience be its reward?
Does Theakes know what sort of campaign it was ? Without that knowledge his comment is pointless & silly. We should stand candidates whenever we can & that means many will be “paper”, knocking on no doors & delivering no leaflets. If Stapenhill was a paper candidacy, then given that it was seen as a close race, that we didnt stand the last time & that there were 6 candidates; 1.5% may be an reasonable result.
@ Paul Barker “Does Theakes know what sort of campaign it was ? ”
That seems to be inflating the word campaign. Whatever it was, 1.5% is laughable and makes it hard to take the party seriously. All it achieves is to dishearten and disillusion the 18 voters who bothered to turn out.
It should be a selection requirement that any candidate carrying the Liberal Democrat brand should be required to at least knock on as many doors as possible. I can guarantee anyone who does that will get more than 18 votes. Paper candidates do no service to the party and are an insult to the electorate.
I disagree with David when a full-scale round of elections is on. Imagine two adjacent wards, one where we could take a seat, the other most unpromising for us and without any activity for a long time. Chris, a keen new member, is willing to stand as a paper candidate in the second ward. This will prepare him/her for standing as an active candidate next time. Not putting up a candidate at all in the second ward could hurt us in the winnable ward. But should Chris, a keen activist, really be spending all his or her time in the second ward, only to see us fail by ten votes in the first?
In by-elections I agree completely. If we fight there is no reason not to fight properly.
What I find depressing is that neither of those North Yorks contests had a Liberal Democrat candidate. The Party really does need to do some hard thinking, mainly at regional level, about how to revive large areas of inactivity.