Conservatives do badly in last by-election before May 2nd

Conservatives do badly in last by-election before May 2nd – UPDATED

By Paul Walter | Fri 26th April 2019 - 9:05 am

There was one council by-election yesterday, in the Belle Vue ward for Shropshire Council. This is a long-standing Labour-held ward.

The Liberal Democrats were represented by James McLeod:

Congratulations to James McLeod on officially becoming the Lib Dem candidate for Belle Vue.

Born and bred in Shropshire, James lives on Hereford Road.

Time to #DemandBetter on issues like school places, green bin charges, and council waste! pic.twitter.com/hk4o2Wxwyv

— Shrewsbury Lib Dems (@ShrewsLibDems) March 27, 2019

Here’s the result:

Belle Vue (Shropshire) result:

LAB: 47.1% (+4.1)
LDEM: 31.5% (+3.2)
CON: 11.9% (-12.3)
GRN: 5.1% (+0.6)
UKIP: 4.5% (+4.5)

Labour HOLD.https://t.co/Ud5Y73Jm21

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) April 25, 2019

UPDATE 10:38 26/4/19:

The numbers were:

Labour 603
Liberal Democrats 403
Conservative 152
Green 65
UKIP 58

This compares to these past results:

May 2017 result Lab 643 LD 423 C 362 Grn 67
Nov 2015 by-election Lab 546 C 282 LD 240 Grn 75
May 2013 result Lab 939 C 289
June 2009 result Lab 797 C 571 Grn 161 LD 117

Kevin Alcock, who stood as a Conservative candidate in the 2003 Gedling Borough Council elections, has tweeted a thorough analysis of the result (click on “See Kevin Alcock’s other tweets” to see the whole thread:

Local by Election result and analysis thread for 25/04/2019

One Local by Election tonight

Shropshire – Lab Def

Result will be posted when we get it.

— Kevin Alcock (@kevina364) April 25, 2019

The Lib Dems may be disappointed not to get closer, however 2017 was a good year for them and their vote share is still up. It is in line with a 20% plus projected share. If they hit around 20% next week they will have a very good night.

— Kevin Alcock (@kevina364) April 25, 2019

So overall it looks good for the Lib Dems, but a lot of Lab v Con battles will be down to who shows up, whether Brexit will be a big factor in that or not, and can Lab get an opposition uplift on the slightly higher turnout that the by elections are not showing.

— Kevin Alcock (@kevina364) April 25, 2019

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.

Read more by Paul Walter .
This entry was posted in Local government.

6 Comments

Chris Bertram 26th Apr '19 - 9:09am

Actually it was a *county* council by-election, thought there was a simultaneous town council election in the same area, no idea what the result was there.
Paul Walter 26th Apr '19 - 10:30am

Thanks Chris. My mistake – now corrected.
theakes 26th Apr '19 - 10:32am

But what about ourselves, have we moved forward enough to encourage us about next week?
Paul Walter 26th Apr '19 - 10:45am

theakes – see analysis just added above from Kevin Alcock, which covers this point very well.
Andy Hyde 27th Apr '19 - 9:36am

TC result:
GEORGE, Ross Christopher
The Conservative Party Candidate
140
HALLIDAY, Mary Kate
The Labour Party Candidate
612 Elected
LATHAM, David Michael
commonly known as LATHAM, Dave
Green Party
60
MCLEOD, John James
commonly known as MCLEOD, James
Liberal Democrat
406
OAKLEY, Robert Donald Ivor commonly known as OAKLEY, Bob
UKIP
51
Andy Hyde 27th Apr '19 - 9:40am

I don’t think Labour were going to let this go, the Cllr who resigned (according to Britain Elects) was taking up the post of Labour’s West Midlands organiser, which wouldn’t look good for him starting his new job by losing his old council seat!