Good news from different parts of the country – three very strong by-election gains tonight so far. One in Cornwall, from UKIP, and another with a huge swing from the Tories in Norfolk, and the third from Independent in Wiltshire.
And how nice it is to have to edit the post to add in one more – also in Cornwall where we won from Independent by a LONG way. Figures to follow.
And here they are:
St Teath & St Breward result:
LDEM: 44.8% (+13.0)
IND: 17.5% (+17.5)
CON: 14.6% (-2.1)
IND: 13.1% (+13.1)
IND: 5.3% (+5.3)
LAB: 4.8% (+4.8)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 14, 2016
Here are the details of the earlier three:
Trowbridge Grove (Wiltshire) result:
LDEM: 45.9% (+45.9)
CON: 21.4% (+6.9)
UKIP: 13.4% (+13.4)
LAB: 8.4% (+8.4)
IND: 8.1% (+8.1)
GRN: 2.9%— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 14, 2016
New Councillor Chris Auckland is a relatively new member of the Lib Dems, too. Yet another newbie making a very important mark on the party.
Newquay Treviglas (Cornwall) result:
LDEM: 57.8% (+32.9)
CON: 25.0% (-2.1)
LAB: 10.3% (-7.4)
IND: 6.9% (+6.9)
UKIP didn't stand.— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 14, 2016
And Norfolk
Astley (North Norfolk) result:
LDEM: 40.8% (+40.8)
CON: 25.3% (-30.7)
UKIP: 17.0% (+17.0)
GRN: 10.4% (-15.9)
LAB: 6.5% (-11.3)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 14, 2016
It’s worth noting that these results are from areas that voted Leave a few weeks ago.
Not only that, but there has been a pretty significant swing to us in an Islington by-election, too.
Islington (Barnsbury) result:
LAB: 51.6% (-4.1)
LDEM: 17.7% (+7.1)
CON: 15.9% (-2.9)
GRN: 13.1% (+0.7)
IND: 1.7% (+1.7)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 14, 2016
Our candidate was Bradley Hillier-Smith who’s been involved in so many of the aid trips to Calais. And, typically, this by-election has been about doing good for the community as he said on Facebook:
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25 Comments
I’m afraid you’re going to have to revise your headline – we’ve made a fourth gain in Cornwall!
Super results. We would be cerebrating tonight if we hadn’t just heard the horrible news about Nice in France 🙁
Despite the consensus being enforced that ‘Brexit means Brexit’ by the new prime minister, these results might show that in much of England this is far from true.
Superb news , well done everyone
Does that make 6 gains from 2013 in Cornwall? With another two contest on the way?
There was also a town council by-election in Shepton Mallet West on Tuesday in which we beat the Tories by 419 votes to 283 in a straight fight. I don’t know which party was making the defence.
Best night for years? East Ham saw a big rise in the Green vote though, just the one caveat, otherwise everything more or less went according to plan. With the Ipsos Mori poll showing us at 11% and UKIP at 8%, first time for years I can recall Lib Dems in 3rd place, we seem to have some current momentum.
Paul, Shepton Mallet was from Labour who did not stand. Was a multi party seat ward from 2015.
Well done to all involved. How long since we could mark (I’ll say mark not celebrate due to events inFrance) four gains in one night?
Just one thought – we’ve made more progress in relatively Eurosceptic areas. Small sample, but the idea that every election now becomes about Europe needs knocking on its head.
Tpfkar,
While everything is not about Europe, the major issue this country will face over the next decade is Europe so no it can’t be knocked on the head. These results are on the back of the referendum too, think otherwise is not a realistic position. In my opinion the divorce from Europe will go badly as many divorces do, so yes Europe should be used to hit the Tories and UKIP over the head as often as possible. Remember how the Tories used the coalition against the Lib Dems and return the favour with spades
Superb results and congratulations to our local council candidates and the teams that support them. Clearly in Cornwall, the tide is turning. I hope we have a really good strategy combining these local heroes with the team at the Great George Street aimed simply at regaining all the Cornish seats in the next General Election.
David Penhaligon would expect no less! 🙂
Nigel Farage has resigned, as has the UKIP chairman and deputy leader. Suzanne Evans is excluded from standing. Theresa May has had a clear-out of the outgoing cabinet, but who are the “Nasty Party” now?
Bradley Hillier-Smith: standing again?
David Evans: David Penhaligon once stood for parliament in Devon “but that was in England”.
Well done to all involved. UKIP councillors in Gloucestershire joined the Tories. It may be that the referendum result will see the demise of UKIP, which could be perhaps the only positive result of the mess.
Richard,
I didn’t quite understand. Things change so fast these days so I may have missed it but Devon’s still in England isn’t it?
@Barry Snelson – Devon was, is, and forever will be in England. But Cornishmen and women talk of “going into England” when they cross the Tamar. For them, Cornwall is Cornwall, and its attachment to England purely a matter of political convenience.
Yes UKIP vote down again, crashed at Wibsey in Bradford. So much for challenging in northern Labour areas. Oh yes we fell from 5 to 2%. Just controls our excitment sowhat.
Chris Bertram
“Devon was, is, and forever will be in England. But Cornishmen and women talk of “going into England” when they cross the Tamar. For them, Cornwall is Cornwall, and its attachment to England purely a matter of political convenience.”
Indeed, Cornwall is only attached to England by about a mile of land between Tamar Lake and a stream going into the Atlantic at Morwenstow. 😉
@Paul Walter – Nearly right, there are a couple of odd diversions of the boundary away from the river around Bridgerule (in Devon) and North Tamerton (Cornwall), but it’s hard to think of another border that sticks to the water quite so rigidly.
I have been doing some mild number crunching on local Byelections since May, essentially using the same method that Rallings & Thrasher use for their predictions of Equivalent Vote Shares.For every byelection where we stood either this time or last time, I apply the change in our vote to to the vote share for the year th eseat was last contested.
Ive found 26 byelections so far, with results ranging from 9% to 51%. The running average has been surprisingly steady so far, between 20% & 22%.
Even applying Mark Packs reccomended reduction of 2% it does look as though we took another step forward after May.
Good night, but there are places, in particular in North & Midlands, where we are still loosing ground
Very good results, mostly from places where we have traditionally been strong but a fall in seats where Labour are strong except where they did not stand. We seem to be returning to the traditional pattern of recovering during a Conservative Government but mostly only in Conservative areas.
The “5th win” in Shepton Mallet was achieved with the support of a rainbow group of Lib Dems, Labour and independent Councillors who saw the sense of keeping a group of 5 backward looking Tories from regaining ground. This same group have held Shepton Mallet back for years and arrived at the count for the election with smug smirks convinced they had won. Watching that leave their faces was as much a pleasure as celebrating our convincing win.
so good to see Lib Dem’s succeed at local level… onwards and upwards.. we’re not finished.. we have much to give to our communities… #libdemfightback
Richard:
And that was the occasion for his story that he overheard a woman saying she wasn’t going to vote for him because “He sounds like he comes from Pakistan.” I believe that was a reference to his surname, not his accent.