Category Archives: Parliamentary by-elections

Highlighting the need for better broadband connectivity across Powys

By Paul Walter | Sat 6th July 2019 - 2:25 pm

If you haven’t already been to Brecon and Radnorshire to help, please do so as soon as you can. Details are the foot of this post.

Jane Dodds and team have been out in the sun in Presteigne. It’s very good to see some distinguished members of the House of Lords in Jane’s coterie:

Getting a great response on the doorstep in #Presteigne this afternoon.

We have real issues with broadband connectivity right across #Powys, it’s time for us to elect a hard working MP who’ll fight to fix this!https://t.co/6FsTenl3mX pic.twitter.com/3GNMWY2Qmv

— Jane Dodds 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺🔶 (@DoddsJane) July 5, 2019

We can win this by-election, but we need your help! Please come to this lovely constituency NOW!

+++The six candidates standing at the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election

By Paul Walter | Fri 5th July 2019 - 5:46 pm

The River Wye near Builth Wells in the Brecon and Radnorshire Counsituency
The BBC reports that there are six candidates standing at the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election.

As expected, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Green Party have, admirably, agreed not to stand candidates in order to have a united “Remain” candidate in the shape of Jane Dodds.

The six candidates are:

If you’re not at Brecon and Radnorshire today, this is what you are missing….

By Paul Walter | Thu 27th June 2019 - 2:30 pm

And this:

Tagged brecon and radnorshire by-election 2019 | 6 Comments

+++August 1st is date of Brecon and Radnorshire by-election – LDV video from the constituency

By Paul Walter | Thu 27th June 2019 - 10:13 am

Please come and help @DoddsJane for the August 1st by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire pic.twitter.com/2y3Drk8R3r

— paulwalteruk (@paulwalteruk) June 27, 2019

The government have just moved the writ for the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election – to occur on August 1st.

As I say in the video above, please come and help here as soon as you can! We can win this and it is a beautiful area to campaign in!

Tagged brecon and radnorshire by-election 2019 | 7 Comments

“Sorry. I’m not a biker, I’m a Liberal” – Brecon campaign diary

By Paul Walter | Thu 27th June 2019 - 9:21 am

Brecon and Radnorshire is an enormous constituency. By my reckoning it takes up about a seventh of Wales. Geographically, it is the largest constituency in Wales and England.

There are two HQs for the Brecon and Radnorshire campaign. The Brecon HQ is perhaps most accessible for those coming from the south of England. The HQ in Llandrindod Wells is probably a better bet for those coming from the north.

Tagged brecon and radnorshire by-election 2019 | 6 Comments

Brecon campaign: Mountaineers welcome!

By Paul Walter | Wed 26th June 2019 - 5:16 pm

I knew I’d walked into a very geographically distinctive campaign this morning. The Brecon HQ gurus showed me the position of my delivery rounds using a large “Mountain Map” on the wall.

Tagged brecon and radnorshire by-election 2019 | Leave a comment

VIDEO: The LDV team is helping now at Brecon and Radnorshire – please join us asap!

By Paul Walter | Wed 26th June 2019 - 12:15 pm

Please come and help @DoddsJane and her team here in Brecon and Radnorshire pic.twitter.com/Oh2jdHpdLc

— paulwalteruk (@paulwalteruk) June 26, 2019

As you can see from the above video, I am Brecon and Radnorshire, busy helping Jane Dodds and her team over the next few days.

We can win this one. Please get yourself down here as soon as possible. We need help now. Help given early in the campaign is inordinately important.

There are two HQs – one in the south at Brecon and one in the north at Llandrindod Wells. They are both open every day from 10am until 7pm:

Brecon HQ: 26 High Street, Brecon, LD3 7LE

Llandrindod HQ: Haslemere, Park Crescent, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 6AB

Tagged brecon and radnorshire by-election 2019 | 4 Comments

Three new things you can do in the next six weeks

By Jane Dodds | Mon 10th June 2019 - 12:58 pm

In Brecon and Radnorshire, we present you with a potential number of new campaigning experiences.

One is campaigning in a rural constituency covering the entire Brecon Beacons with endless accommodation for Liberal Democrats. A rural constituency with Young Farmers Clubs Rallies (for those aged between 10 and 26) with sheep shearing competitions, singing and dancing opportunities, and the infamous tug of war between warring clubs. A Welsh rural constituency with Eisteddfods for children and adults – competitions in the Welsh and English in recitation, choirs, duets and a unique Welsh cultural activity called Cerdd Dant. A Welsh rural constituency built …

Also posted in News | 3 Comments

+++Lib Dem vote quadruples at Peterborough. Labour wins while dumbstruck Farage leaves hastily by back door

By Paul Walter | Fri 7th June 2019 - 5:49 am

Many congratulations to Beki Sellick and her team on nearly quadrupling the Lib Dem vote share at Peterborough. We won 12.3% of the vote – up from 3.3% at the 2017 by-election.

Here’s the full result from yesterday’s parliamentary by-election, following the recall of Labour’s Fiona Onasanya:

Peterborough, full result:

LAB: 30.9% (-17.2)
BREX: 28.9% (+28.9)
CON: 21.4% (-25.5)
LDEM: 12.3% (+8.9)
GRN: 3.1%
UKIP: 1.2%
CHR: 0.5%
EDEM: 0.5%
SDP: 0.4%
MRLP: 0.3%
IND: 0.3%
CG: 0.2%
RNW: 0.1%
UKEU: 0.1%
IND: 0.0% (5 votes)

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 7, 2019

There was much campaign hoo-haa from the Brexit party about them gaining their first MP at this election. They failed, despite all the publicity surrounding their European election performance.

Tagged peterborough by-election 2019 | 47 Comments

Welsh Lib Dems Announce Ryan Jones as Candidate for Newport West

By The Voice | Thu 7th March 2019 - 1:57 pm

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have announced Ryan Jones as their candidate for the Newport West Parliamentary by-election on April 4th.

Ryan Jones, 32, lives in The Gaer, having been brought up in Cwmbran. He runs his own construction business in Newport employing 30 people in the city. As a local employer, Ryan is very keen on supporting young people who aren’t fulfilled within the traditional workforce.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Candidate for Newport West Ryan Jones said:

It’s an honour to be selected as the Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for this Newport West by-election.

I look forward to opposing our Conservative UK Government, a government

…

Also posted in News | Tagged by-elections and Newport West | 15 Comments

Paddy rallies the troops at Lewisham

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th June 2018 - 8:11 pm

It was great to spend a day campaigning for Lucy Salek in Lewisham East yesterday. It was my second time helping the campaign, greatly assisted by an off-peak Travelcard, which allowed fulsome use of the train, tube and bus. Tragically, there was a fatal incident on the line yesterday around Hither Green and Lee stations, meaning that I ended up, to my surprise, in New Eltham, at one point.

Anyway, our enormous HQ was brimming with volunteers all day. A hive of industry. There were people there from as far afield as Falmouth. It was particularly good to join in the traditional Blue envelope addressing work!

Tagged lucy salek and paddy ashdown | Leave a comment

Lewisham East – more news from the frontline

By Graham Colley | Mon 11th June 2018 - 11:27 am

Every by-election has a tipping point. You either have the momentum, or you do not. I know I was closely involved in the Bermondsey by-election, where we proved that one of Labour’s fiefdoms could be demolished by Liberal activism. I must tell you that this weekend the Leegate Centre had the buzz of a Party whose Liberal philosophy, which fights against Labour state control or Tory neoliberalism, is unstoppable.

Liberal Democrat activists were dedicated and inspired.

I spent Saturday afternoon on the doorstep in a former Conservative ward. I can tell you that most began as undecided but were happy to listen …

Tagged Lewisham east | 4 Comments

++Copeland by-election – Lib Dems more than double vote share and move up to third place, beating UKIP

By Paul Walter | Fri 24th February 2017 - 3:50 am

Embed from Getty Images

Congratulations to Rebecca Hanson and the team for an excellent showing at the Copeland by-election, caused by the resignation of Labour’s Jamie Reed. Our vote share more than doubled from 3.5% at the 2015 general election to 7.25%. We moved up from fourth place to third – beating UKIP.

Dramatically, the Tories won the by-election in this normally rock-solid Labour seat. Psephologist John Curtice told the BBC that this was the biggest gain, in share of the vote, by a governing party in a byelection since the Hull North byelection in 1966.

Here is the result in full, plus some bar charts from the Press Association’s Ian Jones:

Also posted in News | Tagged copeland by-election and rebecca hanson | 10 Comments

++Stoke on Trent by-election – Lib Dem vote share more than doubles

By Paul Walter | Fri 24th February 2017 - 3:37 am

Embed from Getty Images

Congratulations to Zulfiqar Ali and the team at Stoke-on-Trent for more than doubling our share of the vote at the by-election caused by Tristram Hunt’s resignation.

Labour held the seat.

After the result was announced, Liberal Democrat president Sal Brinton said from Stoke:

The Potteries decided there was no need to have UKIP’s official leader in parliament when UKIP’s unofficial leader is already in Number 10, pursuing a hard Brexit. We would have done even better but for many voters, drawn to the Lib Dems, who felt they just couldn’t risk being represented by a UKIP MP, so reluctantly backed Labour. Paul Nuttall called this seat Brexit Central but it turned out to be the end of the line for UKIP.

There is also little comfort for Labour, whose vote share has more than halved here in less than two decades. This is on top of an incredibly tough night for them in Copeland. It shows that if we are to turn out this divided and uncaring Conservative Brexit government, the Liberal Democrats will be the ones making the progressive case to keep Britain open, tolerant and united. We started from a low base here but our vote is picking up and this is yet another sign that the Lib Dem fight-back is on.

Here is the result in full plus some sexy bar charts tweeted by the Press Association’s Ian Jones:

Also posted in News | Tagged dr zulfiqar ali and stoke-on-trent central by-election | 21 Comments

Last weekend – big push for Sarah Olney in Richmond Park

By Paul Walter | Fri 25th November 2016 - 9:40 am

kingston-office-montage

Yesterday I spent all day at Richmond Park. In the morning I was delivering Gazette newspapers in New Malden. Then in the afternoon I joined our very hard-working clerical team in the Kingston office. I bumped into LDV colleague, Mary Reid, who has a crucial top secret role at the Kingston office, which she fulfils every evening. I could tell you what this role involves, but I’d have to eat you afterwards.

It was great to see the streets teeming with orange diamond posters and busy LibDem volunteers.

Tagged richmond park by-election and sarah olney | 5 Comments

‘Within 48 hours of Goldsmith’s standing down on Tuesday, the Lib Dems had leafleted the entire constituency’ – Guardian

By Paul Walter | Sat 29th October 2016 - 10:05 pm

The Guardian have a great article which liberally quotes Sarah Olney, the Lib Dems’ “prospective candidate” for Richmond Park and has this passage:

Within 48 hours of Goldsmith’s standing down on Tuesday, the Lib Dems had leafleted the entire constituency and were trying to find a bigger office from which to mastermind their campaign.

Nassar Kessell, a party activist who was out on the streets on Friday, admitted that Goldsmith, who fought an unsuccessful campaign to become mayor of London earlier this year, was popular locally. But he was still beatable.

“There’s no doubt that people like him. He’s been the MP for a very long time. But there is certainly a part of the constituency that is upset about the issues he’s championed – Brexit, for example. We can absolutely provide the alternative.”

Tagged richmond park and richmond park by-election | 14 Comments

The David Rendel Award – helping young people to get involved in by-election campaigns

By Paul Walter | Wed 26th October 2016 - 10:10 am

David Rendel was MP for Newbury from 1993 to 2005, winning the seat in a famous by-election with the largest majority ever attained by a Liberal Democrat. A campaigner of renowned energy, he was greatly admired both locally and nationally. At the time of his death in 2016, he still inspired huge loyalty within and beyond the Newbury and West Berkshire (NWB) Local Party and area. One of David’s key strengths was his ability to inspire other people, particularly young people, to become actively involved in politics.

Tagged by-elections and david rendel | Leave a comment

Sal Brinton congratulates Labour’s Tracy Brabin on being elected in Jo Cox’s old seat

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 10:45 am

Embed from Getty Images

There was another parliamentary by-election last night. Batley and Spen in Yorkshire was contested to elect an MP to replace Jo Cox, who was murdered going about her MP’s duties in June this year.

The Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Conservatives did not fight the by-election, as a mark of respect to the late Jo Cox. Labour’s Tracy Brabin won with 17,506 votes – a majority of 16,537.

Tagged jo cox mp | 9 Comments

Witney: great result – thanks team!

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 8:15 am

Well, that was a great result at Witney. Congratulations to Liz Leffman who was an astonishingly brilliant candidate.

This was the biggest swing from the Conservatives to the Lib Dems since the Winchester by-election in 1997.

We moved from 4th to 2nd. In 2015 the Guardian described the 25,155 Tory majority at Witney as “ultra safe”. Liz and team reduced that majority to just 5,702 with a very high turnout for a by-election – 47%.

Tagged liz leffman and witney b | 11 Comments

Witney scale swing to Lib Dems would wipe out Conservative majority

By NewsHound | Fri 21st October 2016 - 7:15 am

Embed from Getty Images

The huge swing to the Liberal Democrats of 19.3% per cent would wipe out Theresa May’s majority and hand 26 seats from the Conservatives to Tim Farron’s party. The swing rivals many that were seen in famous by-election wins under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy.

Tim Farron, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said:

Tagged liz leffman, tim farron and witney by-election | 23 Comments

+++Witney result: Biggest Con to Lib Dem swing since the 1997 Winchester by-election.

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 3:17 am

Con 17,313
Lib Dem Liz 11,611 😃
Labour 5,765
UKIP 1354
Green 1363

CON: 45.1% (-15.1)
LDEM: 30.2% (+23.5)
LAB: 15.0% (-2.2)
GRN: 3.5% (-1.5)
UKIP: 3.5% (-5.6)

Turnout 47%

19.3% swing from the Tories to the Lib Dems.

The Greens and UKIP lost their deposits.

The Tory majority was slashed from 25,155 of “ultra safe” for the Tories to 5,702!

Lib Dems rise from 4th to 2nd.

Via Neil Fawcett’s Live Facebook broadcast, Liz Leffman said:

This is a really great result. Thank you to everyone who helped in any way. This is a beginning for us – we can still go on and do even better.

You can read the 2015 result here.

Tagged liz leffman and witney by-election | 36 Comments

Liz Leffman gets 11,611 votes in Witney

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 3:12 am

Liz got just over 30% of the vote.

Con 17,313
Lib Dem Liz 11,611 😃
Labour 5,765
UKIP 1354
Green 1363

Tagged liz leffman and witney by-election | 1 Comment

Witney turnout estimated at 47%

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 3:10 am

So much for the “low turnout” that was forecast earlier!

Tagged liz leffman and witney by-election | Leave a comment

Live updates from the Witney count

By Paul Walter | Thu 20th October 2016 - 11:23 pm

The Witney Gazette is carrying live updates from the Witney by-election count here. Turnout is said to be low and a Tory majority is expected. Estimates of the Lib Dem vote are currently around the 25% mark, which would be a fantastic achievement given we started as 50/1 outsiders, fourth with 6.8% of the vote.

This great success has been the result of wonderful teamwork led by a superb candidate, Liz Leffman. Just today we had 400 activists in the constituency, 300 people making calls from home, 10,000 doors knocked on and 13,500 phone calls made.

Tagged liz leffman and witney by-election | 9 Comments

Extra push for Liz Leffman in Witney

By Paul Walter | Sat 15th October 2016 - 6:08 pm

witney-mosaic
Hundreds of supporters have been flocking to the Witney Lib Dem HQ this weekend. I was there earlier today and delivered a whole village. It was fantastic to see our hub throbbing with activity. One of the main things hapening this weekend is the delivery of a constituency-wide newspaper, the West Oxfordshire Chronicle.

Liz Leffman has been thanking supporters for the fantastic work done so far and asks for an extra push in the final days before polling on Thursday this week.

Tagged liz leffman and witney by-election | 23 Comments

Liz Leffman narrows the odds of a Lib Dem victory at Witney

By Paul Walter | Tue 4th October 2016 - 10:45 am

Liz Leffman It’s all go at Witney. Here are some of the highlights of the last few days:

Hundreds of helpers descended on our Witney HQ over the weekend,

Tagged liz leffman and witney by-election | 8 Comments

Tim Farron opens Witney by-election HQ

By Paul Walter | Sun 2nd October 2016 - 9:55 am

This video (below) shows a spirited Tim Farron opening our large HQ in Witney. Please do help with Liz Leffman’s campaign! You can help by following this link.

Tagged tim farron and witney by-election | 2 Comments

Liz Leffman’s Witney campaign hits the ground running

By Paul Walter | Sat 24th September 2016 - 5:12 pm

Sal Brinton Liz Leffman Paul Walter Charlie dog at Witney by-election 24th Sep 2016

(R-L) Party President Sal Brinton, Witney candidate Liz Leffman and Paul Walter with veteran Focus delivery dog Charlie at the Witney by-election campaign HQ today
The Lib Dem Witney by-election HQ was abuzz with activity when I visited to help today. I was astonished by the busy team all set to work so early in the campaign. It was great weather for delivering leaflets. I enjoyed doing my very large bundle in Carterton, with the sound of the aircraft at Brize Norton in the background.

Tagged liz leffman, sal brinton and witney by-election | 9 Comments

Has Oldham had more parliamentary by-elections than any other place in the UK?

By Paul Walter | Fri 27th November 2015 - 1:45 pm

View image | gettyimages.com

On Tuesday I asked: “Which piece of ground in the UK has had the most parliamentary by-elections?”. I genuinely didn’t know the answer to that question when I wrote that post. We had to employ Mounted Police to deal with the deluge of replies to the question. Thanks to Tim Hill for showing interest. Prompted by Tim’s enquiry, I did a bit of research and came up with the following tentative answer.

The Oldham wards of Crompton, Lees and Shaw have had more parliamentary by-elections, spread relatively frequently over two centuries, than any other part of the UK.

Those wards were part of Littleborough and Saddleworth constituency for the by-election there in 1995. They were part of Oldham East and Saddleworth for the by-election there in 2010. And they were part of the old Oldham Borough parliamentary constituency for by-elections there in:

1835
1852
1857
1862
1877
1899
1911
1925

I haven’t exhaustively researched this, so let me know in the comments thread below if you think differently. But I think it’s a fair bet, from my reading of the lists, that those three Oldham wards, or perhaps Oldham itself, have had the most by-elections when looked at over the last two centuries. The nearest contender I could find was the “Combined Scottish Universities” seat which had by-elections in 1936,1938 and 1945. If someone can point me in the direction of a list of pre-1900 by-elections that would be very helpful in nailing this question. I couldn’t find such a list.

I think that where the Oldham by-election frequency record is so impressive is that it covers a good range of pre-1900 and post-1900 by-elections. It’s just a shame that the current Oldham West and Royton by-election doesn’t cover those three wards mentioned above but it does cover wards in the old Oldham Borough such as Chadderton. So, you could actually say that Chadderton and other western wards have had the most by-elections but that would mainly be relying on pre-1900 by-elections. Lees, Crompton and Shaw are the wards in Oldham with the most impressive frequency of pre-1900 and post-1900 by-elections.

But you don’t get away with reading this that lightly! Please help Jane Brophy and the team at Oldham West and Royton in the next few days.

Here’s all the info you need on how to get there:

Tagged by-elections, oldham and oldham west and royton by-election | 8 Comments

Which piece of ground in the UK has had the most parliamentary by-elections?

By Paul Walter | Tue 24th November 2015 - 2:54 pm

That is a convoluted way of crow-barring in an immodest mention of this fact: I have now helped the Liberal Democrats at three by-elections in Oldham:

Tagged oldham east and saddleworth, oldham west and royton by-election and parliamentary by-elections | 4 Comments

Op-eds

Jo Swinson MP writes….A campaign we can all be proud of (Jo Swinson MP)
Caron’s Brecon and Radnorshire Diary – Day 2 (Caron Lindsay)
How to help Jane Dodds win Brecon and Radnorshire (The Voice)
Liz Jarvis on gaining the confidence to stand as a parliamentary candidate (Caron Lindsay)
Von der Leyens promises to address some of the UK’s direst needs: Poverty, Social Security, Clean Air Cities (Bernard Aris)

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Tweets from @libdemvoice/team

Jo Swinson MP writes….A campaign we can all be proud of

How to help Jane Dodds win Brecon and Radnorshire

Ed Davey MP writes….My reflections from the Campaign Trail

Brecon and Radnorshire – a real test for the Liberal Democrats

Category Archives: Parliamentary by-elections

Highlighting the need for better broadband connectivity across Powys

+++The six candidates standing at the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election

If you’re not at Brecon and Radnorshire today, this is what you are missing….

+++August 1st is date of Brecon and Radnorshire by-election – LDV video from the constituency

“Sorry. I’m not a biker, I’m a Liberal” – Brecon campaign diary

Brecon campaign: Mountaineers welcome!

VIDEO: The LDV team is helping now at Brecon and Radnorshire – please join us asap!

Three new things you can do in the next six weeks

+++Lib Dem vote quadruples at Peterborough. Labour wins while dumbstruck Farage leaves hastily by back door

Welsh Lib Dems Announce Ryan Jones as Candidate for Newport West

Paddy rallies the troops at Lewisham

Lewisham East – more news from the frontline

++Copeland by-election – Lib Dems more than double vote share and move up to third place, beating UKIP

++Stoke on Trent by-election – Lib Dem vote share more than doubles

Last weekend – big push for Sarah Olney in Richmond Park

‘Within 48 hours of Goldsmith’s standing down on Tuesday, the Lib Dems had leafleted the entire constituency’ – Guardian

The David Rendel Award – helping young people to get involved in by-election campaigns

Sal Brinton congratulates Labour’s Tracy Brabin on being elected in Jo Cox’s old seat

Witney: great result – thanks team!

Witney scale swing to Lib Dems would wipe out Conservative majority

+++Witney result: Biggest Con to Lib Dem swing since the 1997 Winchester by-election.

Liz Leffman gets 11,611 votes in Witney

Witney turnout estimated at 47%

Live updates from the Witney count

Extra push for Liz Leffman in Witney

Liz Leffman narrows the odds of a Lib Dem victory at Witney

Tim Farron opens Witney by-election HQ

Liz Leffman’s Witney campaign hits the ground running

Has Oldham had more parliamentary by-elections than any other place in the UK?

Which piece of ground in the UK has had the most parliamentary by-elections?

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Jo Swinson MP writes….A campaign we can all be proud of

How to help Jane Dodds win Brecon and Radnorshire

Ed Davey MP writes….My reflections from the Campaign Trail

Brecon and Radnorshire – a real test for the Liberal Democrats

Category Archives: Parliamentary by-elections

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