Like many Lib Dems I was immensely pleased to read of the victory of Sam Ammar in Bromsgrove South last week, taking a seat from Reform.
I had met Sam at the London Region Conference a few weeks ago and was really struck by her story of how she joined us from Labour and her energy and enthusiasm and I wanted to find our the inside story of how our Bromsgrove Team beat Reform.
The by election was called after a Reform Cllr ( who had not attended any Council meetings since her election in May ) resigned due to ill health. The ward is very diverse from heavy social housing in one end (in the District Council seat which Sam also represents ) to £million houses at the other end and 3 gastro pubs.
Sam has been our candidate in May 2025 coming a runner up when Reform took the ward from the Tories and already represents part of the ward on the District Council. She was selected as candidate and the team immediately started intensive campaigning.
There were a number of local issues which we were already campaigning on, one of them was the Government Plan for an additional 9,000 homes to be built locally with 500 in the heart of the ward.
Dr David Nicholls one of our local Cllrs and PPC in 2024 said : “I absolutely accept that we need to build more houses, but concreting fields is not the answer,”
Lib Dems have also been campaigning for a new road the ‘Western Relief Road” to run in parallel with the M5 and relieve congestion on the A38 – something that will only get worse if new homes are built.
Our literature was classic ALDC by election stuff with an attack/squeeze leaflet aimed at Reform issued at the end of the campaign.
The campaign had all the elements of a successful by election with intense leafletting and canvassing and supported by people from surrounding local parties – all producing a lot of data which very accurately predicted the result.
After the count Sam said :
We did it! With overwhelming gratitude, I would like to thank everyone who has put their faith in me and the Liberal Democrats. It is the privilege of my life to be voted in to serve as the first Liberal Democrat councillor for Bromsgrove South in history. It’s an honour and privilege that will weigh heavily on my shoulders. I am humbled. I congratulate all the other candidates for standing and supporting democracy.
I am sure there are lots of lessons for us from this triumph – one of the key point for me is that the Reform vote did not drop by very much but that a great Lib Dem candidate showed she was the person best placed to beat them – and did so.
Sam has hit the ground running as County Councillor and is looking forward in due course to meeting Ed Davey and Layla Moran – two people who inspired her to join the Party.
* Simon McGrath is a Councillor in Wimbledon and represents Lib Dem Councillors on the Party’s Federal Board
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5 Comments
Best political news of the week. Now we have another chance to beat Reform in Cornwall with a by election in Newquay. They have already lost 5 seats through defections.
Thank you at @simon for this excellent article. As someone who lives reasonably close to Sam’s Council division I canvassed with her during her campaign and would thoroughly endorse the things you have said. You have helpfully provided in your second paragraph a link to the article which Sam herself wrote some months ago explaining how and why she left the Labour Party – indeed how her Palestinian heritage and her views had led to this. Like some other byelection candidates in the West Midlands recently she has not been shy ( in her case on social media and on the doorstep) about discussing Gaza. We know from opinion polling that majority opinion in the country is critical of Israel’s behaviour in the last two years. We also know that Sam is not the only Labour councillor to have switched to us because of Gaza – there are also examples from Greater London and the north of England. I do believe we could attract a lot more members and councillors from Labour (and possibly some MPs) if we continue to promote strongly our exemplary stance on the issues at stake in both Gaza and the West Bank. The danger at present is that the Greens, who are talking about it more loudly under their new leader, may steal our thunder.
Thank you, Simon, for beautifully articulating the events that have taken place.
This campaign has so many elements, not least the brilliant team. We had fun in Bromsgrove. It was the most fun campaign I have ever been involved in, thanks to the army of campaigners who came, as well as the campaign manager, agent, and candidate aide.
I am also grateful to Manuela Perteghella MP for Stratford-on-Avon, who came down to help one afternoon and was sent to undecided Tory voters.
On the one hand, I got the trade union vote and committed Labour vote, from people who would never dream of voting Lib Dem. They understood and forgave my decision to leave Labour due to the party’s treatment of me because of my stance on Palestine. On the other hand, I was able to get the “One Nation” Tories, as they found that I have business acumen and speak about local issues fluently due to my district experience.
We mustn’t be complacent. The Reform vote only slightly decreased. This does worry me, especially since my view after the first meeting at county is that they have no real conviction or passion for the job — like we do.
The mobilisation of the West Midlands Yellow Army was a key factor. Volunteers from across the region were inspired by Sam and her story of why she’d joined the party; by great campaign literature and by clear messaging. In a division whete so many lampposts were bedecked in flags it was a phenomenal effort by the team who deserve huge praise.
A wonderful result but this week the Green surge has suddenly emerged, probably because the postal votes made 3 weeks ago are now being recorded, must be our worst week in local by elections since 2021. On this basis it could be the Greens next May not us, especially in London and the North. Our honeymoon could be over, .