Just one Council by-election this week in North Jesmond (Newcastle CC). The by-election saw a 13.6% swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats who comfortably held the seat. Gerard Keating, who has previously served as a Newcastle Liberal Democrat City Councillor, won 52.5% of the vote (an increase of 19.9% on May’s results). Labour were just 32 votes from gaining a Liberal Democrat seat in May’s local elections. This time their vote share fell by 7.3% to come second with 23.6%. The Conservatives came third with 8.6% (-5.9%), UKIP were fourth on 8.3% (+0.7%) and the Greens slipped from third in May to last place on Thursday with 6.9% of the vote (-7.6%).

The Liberal Democrats ran a strong literature campaign highlighting concerns about the Labour council’s plans to introduce communal bins in the ward which is home to thousands of students. Cllr Keating suggested that their colour leaflets with photos showing the impact communal bins had during a pilot scheme made a huge difference to convincing swing voters to support him. This was backed up with a powerful personally crafted letter to target voters focused on key campaign issues, the Lib Dem record of action for North Jesmond and his local credentials. Labour fought hard to gain the seat and claimed to have knocked on every door. However the more targeted door knocking campaign and squeezing all the other candidates proved a winning strategy for the local Liberal Democrats.

For all the detailed results see ALDC elections.

* ALDC is the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners