Author Archives: The Voice

Now the Scottish, Welsh and local government elections are out of the way, the Party is starting the process of selecting our candidates for the 2009 European Parliamentary elections.  At the last Euro elections in 2005, we elected 12 MEPs in every Region of England and in Scotland, with two gains from the previous elections.  Members of the European Parliament are elected using a form of proportional representation under which the Party puts forward a list of candidates.  The number of candidates on the list is the same as the total number of MEPs to be elected for that region, …

From The Independent and Ming Campbell’s website comes the news that Ming wins amongst readers of PinkNews when polled against Brown and Cameron. From Ming’s site:

Given the choice of Prime Minister between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Ming Campbell, 40% of those readers surveyed chose Ming. David Cameron and Gordon Brown trailed on 33% and 27% respectively. In the same poll, only 13% of respondents supported Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership.

Asked how they would vote in a general election, 35% said Labour and 27% said Liberal Democrat, with the Conservatives in third on 26%.

Northampton only started counting at 4pm this afternoon, but the count is looking good for the Liberal Democrats who may well just snatch control of the council latter this evening.

Update: A win, a pulpable win! Nine seats up, taking control. Tories down five. Makes Northampton North a good prospect for the next general election.

One of the party’s lines on the results has been that in many key Westminster seats we have done well, even if we have made some losses just around the corner.

Here are some handy examples, based on rough constituency boundaries as there is a lack of coterminosity in some places.

In Alan Beith’s Berwick, we gained five seats, the Conservatives lost four, and we replaced the Tories as the largest party
In Eastbourne, we took control of the council from the Tories, taking a net eight of their council seats.
In Chris Huhne’s Eastleigh, we took seats from both the Conservatives and Labour.
In …

Sometime LibDem blogger Chris Ward, who’s been using Facebook as a campaigning tool, has won his election to Guildford Borough Council. Congratulations to him and his successful ward colleagues Tony Phillips and Steve Freeman, who’ve gained a seat from the Conservatives in the process.

We have won the Labour group leader’s seat on Gedling Borough Council – sadly, the Tories won the council overall.

We’ve gained a seat in Tynedale, and defeated the Conservative group leader in the process.

In the Liberal Democrat vs Tory battleground in Tim Farron’s constituency, the Liberal Democrats are reportedly to gain three seats from the Conservatives.

Labour are set to lose Oldham to No Overall Control. Labour are also set to lose control of Sutton-in-Ashfield, with big LibDem gains.

In Milton Keynes, meanwhile, we’ve stemmed our losses, with signficantly fewer than last year.

We’ve lost control of the following councils:
North Devon
Restormel
Uttlesford
St Albans
York
Torbay (although there’s an elected Tory mayor anyway)
South Norfolk
Bournemouth
Windsor & Maidenhead

Congratulations to Jonathan Wallace on holding his seat in Gateshead and to Richard Baum, the new councillor for St Mary’s ward in Prestwich. Commiserations to those bloggers who lost their seats.

In Wealden, the Liberal Democrats’ leader (from Hailsham Central and North Ward) has been defeated by the Tories. But the Conservative leader (in neighbouring Hailsham East) was defeated too – by the LibDems!

Seat taken from the Tories, who had held it since 1979. Two very close counts continuing. Watford is run by Liberal Democrat Mayor Dorothy Thornhill.

Report: LibDems take one of the Tories only two seats in Sheffield.

Rumours that we’ve held Newcastle and Chesterfield.

UPDATE: Rumours of three gains from the Tories in West Dorset and gains from both the Tories and Labour possible in Mid Sussex. Expect LibDems to hold Vale of White Horse.

Two gains from the BNP in Burnley.

Up two in Canterbury, both taken from the Conservative, who took one from Labour.

The Liberal Democrats have picked up a seat from the Tories in the Shirley South ward of Solihull. Recount underway in Silhill ward, where we could pick up another. If the Conservatives drop by one, they lose control of the council.

Reports that on Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council (the Liberal Democrats have the Westminster Berwick seat) the Liberal Democrats have gained five seats.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, have lost four.

Good news from Wansbeck: looks like being nine gains from Labour.

News from Bristol was that Busharat Ali, he of photo fame, lost to the Liberal Democrats.

UPDATE: Three Two Labour leaders defeated by the Liberal Democrats: Three Rivers, Newcastle and Exeter (the council leader). (In Three Rivers, the Tories defeated the Labour leader.)

Rumours of a significant scalp on South Hams and of good news from Winchester and Durham.

The story so far: in England, the number of Liberal Democrat-run councils is up (including some spectacular gains from the Conservatives, such as Eastbourne and Hinckley & Bosworth along with dramatic slumps in Torbay and Bournemouth) but the number of councillors overall is down. The overall share of the vote looks like being within 1% of last year’s figures for all the main parties.

The Lib Dem performance looks like it is significantly better in those Parliamentary seats the party holds or would be looking to gain at the next general election than in other areas.

In Scotland and Wales it looks …

Scottish Parliament election gain from fourth place with a majority of 476. Well done Jim!

Long-time Liberal Democrat blogger Nick Barlow has defeated the Greens in one of their top target wards to become a councillor in Colchester. Congratulation, Nick!

Nora Radcliffe increased her vote from 10,963 to 12,588 but in a much higher turnout election that wasn’t quite enough – and Alex Salmond took the Gordon Scottish Parliament seat with an 11% swing.

Liverpool and Stockport – predicted Liberal Democrat holds. But the bigger news … Liberal Democrat gains in Eastbourne looking very likely. Another Lib Dem – Tory Westminster seat in southern England where the local election results are going well for the Lib Dems.

UPDATE: Liberal Democrats take control of Eastbourne council. Promising news for this marginal Tory seat come the next general election.

Very significant losses in Torbay – LDs lose control of the council, and fifteen seats.

This is a new seat, partly created out of Steve Webb’s Northavon constituency, which could be a Liberal Democrat gain at the next general election. So it is of particular interest to note that the Tory prospective candidate has failed to get elected to the council – in a three member ward where the Tories won two seats this year, he failed to win the third. Not exactly a personal endorsement!

Still on Tories. One Liberal Democrat gain from Labour (in John Leach’s constitutency – continuing the pattern of the Liberal Democrats performing well in the key Westminster constituencies).

Mixed news in Waverley
Significant Tory gains from the Liberal Democrats on the cards, but (so far) the Liberal Democrat vote within the Guildford constituency (another key Tory/Lib Dem marginal at general elections) is holding up very well.

Preston
Liberal Democrats beat Labour finance portfolio holder.

Wirral and Maidstone
One Liberal Democrat gain from the Conservatives, and same story in Maidstone.

Total share of the vote in John Prescott’s Hull constituency:

Liberal Democrats 46%
Labour 40%

It is a similar story in Alan Johnson’s Hull West seat:

Liberal Democrats 44%
Labour 35%

Lib Dems defeat Tory Mayor to gain a seat in Sefton, within the Southport Westminster constituency.