Four big by-elections for the Lib Dems tonight. I’ll post the results as they come in.
The first hurdle has been cleared with a successful defence in Newport. Carmel Townsend held the seat which her husband Ed had represented until he sadly passed away in May. In 2012, he held it by just one vote.
Liberal Democrat HOLD St Julians (Newport).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 28, 2016
I did a minuscule bit of phoning tonight and I felt that our vote was turning itself out, but you never really know.
We’ve had loads of Lib Dem heartbreak in Wales this year. It’s good to get some good news. And look at that increase in the vote:
St Julians (Newport) result:
LDEM: 53.7% (+11.6)
LAB: 24.4% (-20.3)
UKIP: 8.8% (+8.8)
CON: 7.6% (-5.5)
PC: 4.0% (+4.0)
GRN: 1.4% (+1.4)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 28, 2016
Wowsers.
In all of this we need to remember the guy who laid the foundations over the last 12 years. Ed Townsend was admired by people across the whole political spectrum as the tributes paid after his death in May show.
In Harringay ward in Haringey, Labour held on with the exact same rise in vote share as the Liberal Democrats.
Harringay (Haringey) result:
LAB: 46.2% (+3.7)
LDEM: 33.6% (+3.7)
GRN: 14.3% (-2.3)
CON: 4.3% (-1.2)
UKIP: 1.6% (+1.6)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 28, 2016
News just in that we have held the Carshalton Central ward in Sutton. There was a big increase in the Tory vote but we were still well ahead.
Carshalton C. (Sutton) result:
LDEM: 43.4% (+5.1)
CON: 36.9% (+11.6)
GRN: 7.3% (-0.3)
LAB: 6.1% (-3.1)
UKIP: 5.2% (-10.5)
CPA: 1.0% (-1.1)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 28, 2016
The UKIP vote tanked, too, as, presumably, it repatriated itself to the Tories.
And finally for tonight, here’s the result from Newlyn in Cornwall! We did it! Another gain from the Tories in Cornwall. This is becoming a habit.
Liberal Democrat GAIN Newlyn & Goonhavern (Cornwall) from Conservative.
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 28, 2016
Newlyn & Goonhavern result:
LDEM: 24.4% (+24.4)
CON: 23.1% (-23.0)
IND: 16.1% (+16.1)
MK: 15.9% (-28.1)
LAB: 7.6% (-2.2)
IND: 7.4%
IND: 5.3%— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 28, 2016
Congratulations to Cllr Maggie Vale and her team.
So, a summary of this week: a tantalisingly close result with a ridiculous swing to us, , two very strong defences and two gains. After the years of electoral famine,I’ll take that.Baby steps – but in the right direction.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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15 Comments
Caron
What you don’t mention in the Carshalton case is that it is what ALDC describes as a “tricky defence” in difficult circumstances.
Bad 3 days of elections for Labour everywhere but Haringey! And Totnes becoming an issue in their civil war..
Meanwhile “where we work we win” is beginning to look true again!
@Andrew McCaig:
““where we work we win” is beginning to look true again!”
More correctly ‘where we work and we are plausible”. This creates a quite substantial ‘filter’ but should not be a disincentive to effort.
@Tim13: Readers of “Rotten Boroughs” in Private Eye will be familiar with this one. Let’s hope the local party are vigilant against any repeats.
Still waiting for Wychavon, Droitwich West. Maybe counting today, cannot find anything in the local press either. We used to poll well in Droitwich.
We should keep adding in Totnes to yesterday’s results – Two holds + Two gains – another good week for the party
Wychavon result
Con 281
Lab 161
UKIP 132
Lib Dem 97
Cracking month of July!
Local Council by elections results summary for July – 32 by elections in total ( none in Scotland )
Lab 31.5% +0.2% on last time
Con 25.5% -3.0%
LD 22.4% +11.2%
Grn 6.4% -1.3%
UKIP 6.2% -3.6%
Othr 5.4% -4.6%
PC 2.6% +1.2%
(Hat-tip Mark Senior)
What is the political balance on VCornwall now after this by election?
Mark Wright’s numbers are exceptionally cheering. An average of 22% in by-election polls! Three times our GE polling.
What that shows is that there is huge slack in the system for local parties to gain ground. It’d be fascinating to see what would happen in a GE.
Ian Patterson
According to analysis by Middle Englander on Vote UK Forum:
LD 44
Ind 34
Tory 30
Lab 8
Mebyon Kernow 4
Green 1
UKIP 1
Non-aligned 1
Please can someone explain to this political newbie how to reconcile these fantastic local election results with the continuing rubbish national polling numbers?
Tim13
thanks for the update.
@Nick B – it means perhaps that our party has moved back from being toxic for voters to being most people’s second favourite party, but it still isn’t many people’s first favourite party.
Nick Baird: Activity?