It was a very quiet night on the by-election front last night.
The Conservatives managed to hold a seat in Bromsgrove where we didn’t stand but their vote fell by 16.6%.
A Conservative hold on Bromsgrove District Council last night. https://t.co/Q1lXVZyIHg pic.twitter.com/GFeLQIy7mJ
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) January 20, 2017
However where we did stand in a seat on Faversham Town Council in Kent, our very own Antony Hook gained a seat from the Conservatives.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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12 Comments
Bromsgrove – A lazy Local Party or a behind closed doors deal ? Both are unacceptable. It is time the national party and the regions set up mechanisms to end this.
I agree it’s very disappointing to see the no-show in Bromsgrove, especially in the midst of the amazing run of success we’re having. Every LP should be fighting every seat.
Very well done to Antony Hook though. 🙂
Good job Antony! 😀
Yes it was sad that we did not stand in Bromsgrove. But it offered an interesting glimpse of how the other parties did without us being preoccupied with our own nul points performance. The Labour increase was roughly the same as the drop in the Green vote. The Conservative drop was roughly the same as the UKIP increase (from nowhere). Even after allowing for churning is there anything to learn from that one?
Yes, sad we were not there to confuse things in Bromsgrove. But without us there was a striking symmetry in the performance of others. Labour increased at the expense of the Greens. UKIP (who did not stand last time) increased at the expense of the Conservatives. Whatever churning was going on, it will tell some Labour people that their best hope in local by-elections is to get Lib Dems out of the way!
To get Antony elected we started campaigning at the earliest opportunity. By Xmas we has dropped three leaflets. The other 5 candidates either one or none. After Xmas we started canvassing with two big Activity days drawing in colleagues from Canterbury, Thanet, Ashford, Dover, Folkestone Maidstone and Medway. We continued to deliver and by the end had dropped six leaflets where others managed 2 at best. We telephone canvassed. The number of leaflets and the Activity days were designed to give us presence as it had been some 10 or 15 years since we last campaigned in the Ward. I directly modelled the campaign on Richmond and Witney. Big Activity days should, I believe be factored into ALL campaigns going forward. We had people stopping is on the street, blowing car horns etc. When we canvasses they said they knew we were serious about winning. On Election Day one guy stopped outside and asked if there was a Conservative standing. The candidate was telling and introduced himself. The voter said I am not voting for you because I didn’t get any leaflets from you. He did get some of course but they were swamped by ours. We won very comfortably.
The reason I am stating all this is as follows. In Witney and Richmond we started campaigning early and first and I followed that policy at Faversham. But here we are and I have heard nothing from Stoke or Copeland about requests for help and early leaflet dropping, although in Rebecca Hanson I do think we have an incredibly strong candidate. So why are we waiting? Why are we not receiving requests for help, apart from the telephone canvassing for Copeland? We need to be doing things now. In Copeland we should be on our third leaflet. In Stoke our second should be ready to go out. Maybe this is happening but if so Iam not seeing it and it worries me.
Since writing the above I have seen the leaflets ready for delivery in Stoke. Much happier!
While it is certainly reassuring to know that leaflets are ready for delivery in Stoke, our candidate in Copeland was selected several days ago and there has subsequently been zilch coverage of her campaign either on this site or on the Liberal Tweets site.
@ Peter Cook and Hugh p. I’m glad to tell you that there have already been two days of face-to-face canvassing and leaflet~dropping in Copeland, in Keswick (strangely part of Copeland though Cockermouth isn’t). But you are right, we need much, much more in the way of leaflets, canvassing and media coverage, as soon as possible, and more people to help. If people are available to come north (or south) we can offer some beds. Challenge us! I tweeted Tim Farron about seeming to prefer Stoke to Copeland, but also to admire his terrific leadership on the national scene.
Great news in Faversham. Antony has supported our events Tonbridge and Malling in the past so its well deserved.
Well done Antony and team.
In the South-east I wanted at least two MEPs, again.
That meant a good result for Antony Hook, but winning THREE seats is even better.
Topping the poll in London is even better,
Make the most of that.
FIVE MORE YEARS!