Chelmsford Liberal Democrats are celebrating two big by-election wins this morning, after double vacancies caused by the death of Tom Smith-Hughes.
Paul Bentham became the new councillor for the Patching Hall ward of Chelmsford City Council, whilst Stephen Robinson was elected in the Chelmsford North division of Essex County Council.
The results were as follows:
PATCHING HALL
Lib Dem 842 (42%)
Con 488 (25%)
Lab 309 (16%)
UKIP 263 (13%)
Green 84 (4%)
CHELMSFORD NORTH
Lib Dem 1614 (42%)
Con 941 (25%)
Lab 711 (19%)
UKIP 435 (11%)
Green 128 (3%)
An excellent result for Stephen, Paul and the Chelmsford team. Hard work doesn’t guarantee electoral success, but in today’s political climate, there are no easy wins.
* Sara Bedford is the leader of Three Rivers District Council and leads the growing Lib Dem group at the District Councils’ Network.
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7 Comments
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Well done. At local govt level, the Lib Dems are renowned for their hard work and dedication. I live in Sheffield where the Lib Dems briefly had a majority, as well as most seats in NOC. The quality of services were considerably better under them than a Labour-run adminstration.
I have only just realised that the late Tom Smith-Hughes was the son of the late Jack Smith-Hughes, who occupies a special place in the history of Southport Liberals and Lib Dems.
It was Jack who won a absolutely safe Tory seat (Birkdale West Ward) on Southport CBC in 1961. More details at
http://birkdalefocus.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/smith-hughes-versus-barberism.html
He won by 7 votes in 1961; the next time Liberals had any success was 1981 when I won the (enlarged) Merseyside CC Electoral Division of Birkdale West/Central/West by a marginally tighter 6 votes; and the third success in 50+ years was in 2012 when Cllr Tony Dawson won what is now called Dukes Ward on Sefton MBC by the (clearly wasteful) margin of 169 votes.
A further political anecdote about Jack is to be found at http://birkdalefocus.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/winding-up-tories.html Those who knew him (I never did) say that this story was totally in character. Jack died in 1994 and his obituary in the Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-john-smithhughes-1429675.html gives some idea of his amazing life including his service in the SOE in WW II as well as subsequently ending up as the Attorney-General of the Virgin Isles.
Fantastic work guys!!
A real achievement.
This was a fantastic result for Chelmsford, Essex and the Liberal Democrats and I’m delighted for Stephen, Paul and the residents I know they will represent superbly.
Make no mistake though , it was hard work and an incredible team effort that involved activists from Chelmsford to Brussels and Cambridge to Hertfordshire.
It clearly shows that where we work all year round we are appreciated by our residents and the dogma spouted by other political parties doesn’t stand up to voter scrutiny. If you can point to WHAT you did/do rather than give an ethereal Tory “promise of more” then that’s a rich message that resonates with people.
I also like to note that history will always record that the first Chelmsford City councillor ever elected was a Lib Dem!
Well done Stephen and Paul and good luck in your new roles!
Thanks for the article Sara and all for your comments. The Connect phone bank was an essential part of our victory.
Simon S: thanks for the historical notes. I will send to Tom’s wife. We knew some but not all of that. Anything else about Jack that you can email me would be really appreciated.
Stephen
Stephen ,my colleague Simon Shaw has told you a little of Tom’s fabled Dad but the key person is is Michael Braham who wrote up the history of Southport Liberals and along with Tom was responsible for most of the delivery in the election that Jack won in Birkdale West. A copy of Michael’s booklet is available http://southportlibdems.org.uk/en/document/history-of-southport-liberals