It’s just five days since Sarah Dyke became MP for Somerton and Frome in that stunning by-election win.
But she may not hold the crown of most recent by-election winner for long.
Emma Holland-Lindsay hopes to win in Mid Bedfordshire if and when Nadine Dorries ever gets round to resigning.
Emma’s campaign is going well and the odds of a Lib Dem victory are becoming more favourable, shortening to 8/15, while Labour have seen their odds slashed to 4/1 after they failed to win in Uxbridge.
It sounds like that “two horse race” phrase might be used soon….
Here’s our newest MP on her trip east:
Last week marked another stunning success for the Liberal Democrats, now the momentum is with us as we take on this out-of-touch Conservative government.
I’m so proud to be handing the by-election baton to Emma Holland-Lindsey who will make an incredible local champion for people in Bedfordshire.
Just like in Somerset, people here are fed up with having an absent MP failing to stand up for them in Parliament. Families are facing soaring mortgage costs and struggling to see a GP, while there is an endless Conservative circus in Westminster.
It’s clear it’s a two-horse race between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in Mid-Bedfordshire.
Emma added:
This election is a golden opportunity here to send Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives a message they cannot ignore.
For too long, the people of Mid Bedfordshire have been taken for granted by this Conservative government. People are struggling to get a GP appointment while seeing their mortgage go up by hundreds of pounds a month, yet they’re left to struggle by an absent MP.
Our community deserves an MP who takes their responsibilities seriously and champions the voices of local people to ensure they get a fair deal.
If you want to help Emma’s campaign, all the information you need is here. There are daily activities and regular phoning so you can help from home too. How good would it be to get a 16th MP?
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20 Comments
Slightly off topic, but I see that George Monbiot is campaigning for open primaries in Totnes and Godalming & Ash, for local electors to decide who they think is the best placed progressive candidate to challenge the Conservatives in these seats (maybe such a plan has already been agreed).
Arguably, there could be such a scheme for Mid Beds, where, if a by election takes place, there will be a ferocious battle between Labour and the Lib Dems to establish themselves as the best placed challenger.
I’m a little wary about these primaries – they are an open invitation to parties to flood them with their own supporters, achieving a result that will advance their cause, but may not be reflective of the views of the wider public.
Oh dear, why do we need this puerile distraction?
In both seats, LDs are the clear challenger and have active local parties.
Why on earth is George Monbiot so hopelessly naive?
Agreed John. A perfectly good idea on paper, but is likely to be hijacked by people who see this as a short-cut to success, and then expect everyone else to go along with them without putting in the hard yards during the actual election. And fails to consider the many realities of elections (or by-elections).
In particular, it makes the mistake of assuming that the electorate is divided neatly into people who will definitely vote Conservative, and people who will vote for anyone who isn’t Conservative and have decided this months in advance of the election. Pushing that angle risks shoring up the support of local Tories who might have otherwise switched, or at least stayed at home.
There may be some constituencies where there is no obvious contender, and perhaps Mid-Beds would be it, but the whole thing seems to have been dreamed up by people who haven’t done much in the way of canvassing.
“I’m a little wary about these primaries – they are an open invitation to parties to flood them with their own supporters”
Or for supporters of non-progressive tories (is labour progressive?) to vote en mass for the candidate least likely to beat them…..
@John Bicknell “for local electors to decide who they think is the best placed progressive candidate to challenge the Conservatives in these seats”
That pretty much sums up what I find so frustrating and disappointing about the current political scene. It’s simply dividing along the lines of Tory vs. not-Tory without a clear, distinctive, progressive alternative being offered.
Indeed, the not-Tory side seems to be so determined to avoid rocking the boat with any hint of radicalism that I can’t help but feel that, whoever forms the next government, the conservatives/Conservatives will have won! 🙁
“the whole thing seems to have been dreamed up by people who haven’t done much in the way of canvassing”
The whole thing has clearly been dreamed up by people who hate seeing Tories, united in selfishness, win power – while the disunited anti-Tory tribalists lose, because they dissipate all their energies fighting amongst themselves.
While I agree with Peter Watson’s concerns – Sometimes you just have to concentrate on the one big issue.
We have to stop the bad stuff happening.
“for local electors to decide …” Hardly: as Monbiot describes it, these “open primaries” are to take the form pitches by the prospective candidates at a series public meetings each of which will end with a ballot of those present. Such meetings are likely to be attended by a small fraction of the electorate: a ballot of an unrepresentative self-selected audience.
And, by the way, what procedures will be in place to ensure that all those attending and voting are actually electors in the relevant constituency and to ensure that no-one participates in the ballots at more than one meeting?
The process , as described by Mobiot, is practically meaningless and of very little value. The only advantage I can see for it is that, if the meetings and ballots are reported in the local media and discussed on social networks, they should assist whoever comes top in them with the “squeeze messages” they should already be planning
Nick: search for ‘South Devon Primary’ to find the organisation’s website, which includes information about how the process works and assurances that ballot integrity will be safeguarded.
Our PPC in Totnes, Caroline Voaden, will be under pressure to attend the proposed 8 town hall primary meetings, but she should handle them comfortably and is the obvious opponent to go up against the Conservative. (Incidentally, he, Anthony Mangall (?), has described these primaries as ‘undemocratic’, which shows that he’s disconcerted).
Under this proposal no party or candidate will be denied the chance to contest the General Election, voters should still have a choice on the ballot paper, and the scheme’s lifespan will be limited by how fast FPTP can be replaced. This is an experiment worth trying – it doesn’t seem that we’ve a lot to lose, and we’re likely to be the main beneficiaries if it’s repeated elsewhere across the country.
“to decide who they think is the best placed progressive candidate to challenge the Conservatives”
Labour will always stand a candidate for general elections, so it’s a stupid idea. It’s entirely possible, though that as in the recent by-elections LDs and Labour will decide to campaign hard in certain seats and not bother too much with others. It’s also likely that some voters would rather vote Green than Labour, even if that might gift the seat to the Tories, on the grounds that Starmer’s Labour is insufficiently different to the Tories, so a Green vote pulls them leftward. As happened with UKIP and the Tories in recent history.
Rather than promoting a really poor multiply flawed idea, George Monbiot could actually do something useful for Totnes and Godalming and Ash.
Simply point out in his column that both seats are winnable for the LDs. Godalming and Ash in particular is a target seat.
“assurances that ballot integrity will be safeguarded”
Didn’t see anything about that.
Will they have access to the electoral register? I would have thought not.
In which case how could they prevent people. maybe not even from the constituency, turning up and voting for the candidate considered least likely to defeat the tory?
We should let Labour fight Totnes. The seat has been abolished. We obviously will be fighting South Devon to win.
Standing a single anti-Tory candidate (quite apart from the problem that because of their party constitution Labour will always wish to field a candidate) runs into the problem that the voter may not do as s/he is told. There are plenty of disgruntled Tories who might vote Lib Dem but if confronted with a straight Labour/Tory fight will dutifully vote against “the Socialist”. The right way to go is surely to dial down the campaigns in the areas where you just want to be a repository for the protesting Tory – as in Selby, as in Uxbridge, which only managed to be the most depressing event in recent political history because of the Labour Party’s incompetence (While I was very fond of a lot of my fellow members, I am increasingly glad I resigned from the Labour Party when I did).
And open primaries are a rotten idea. When one town I know of held its first Mayoral election, the Conservatives were so unwise as to have an open selection meeting. The first two rows were occupied by Lib Dems who successfully gave the strongest candidate such a hard time that she didn’t get selected.
After 14 comments, including mine, (at the time of writing ; there may be more ahead of this in the queue for pre moderation), following John Bicknell’s “slightly off topic” contribution, is it time to get back on topic?
Is the initiative by Flitwick Town Council symptomatic of a growing frustration among Dorries’ constituents that she has still not implemented the resignation “with immediate effect” which she announced on 9 June and a local campaign, gathering in momentum, to encourage her to do so?
Peter Davies:
If you do not stand you do not generate anything for the future of the party. Mark Pack is trying all the time to get us on the ballot paper and here you suggest what, well I give up.
We get the same naive and unworkable ideas coming up time and again under the aegis of a “progressive alliance”.
There is only one way that we are going to get more Liberal Democrats into Parliament and onto councils.
Stand more Liberal Democrat candidates everywhere (including in local authority elections) and under no circumstances do any deals with anyone else. Campaign vigorously where we have a reasonable chance of winning, but maintain a presence everywhere so that other parties are kept on their toes. Do not even contemplate allowing others to worm their way into our support, eat our lunch and then double-cross us when it comes to redeeming the ‘promises’ they made.
Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history…….(and history began well before 2010).
No Theakes, I am merely pointing out that The Boundary Commission for England has recommended the abolition of the Totnes seat so if Labour try to fight it, it will be no skin off our noses. The new seat is called South Devon. https://www.bcereviews.org.uk/node/6485?postcode=TQ95SE
Is Nadine Dorries actually going to resign, or has she changed her mind? Will the current pre by-election campaign morph into a pre general election campaign about an absentee MP who has let down her constituents?