Paul Walter

Spectacular by-election win – Lib Dems take seat from Tories in Newbury

By | Fri 6th May 2016 - 2:03 am

Elizabeth O'Keefe and team

Elizabeth O’Keeffe (centre) with some of her team in Newbury

Liberal Democrats in Newbury are celebrating after Elizabeth O’Keeffe stormed to victory to take a seat off the Tories on Newbury Town Council. The by-election in Victoria ward, caused by a Conservative councillor resigning after moving out of the area, was fiercely fought with no less than seven candidates.

Elizabeth and team worked extremely hard, following advice and templates from ALDC, including support from development officer for South Central, Neil Fawcett.

But the victory belongs to Elizabeth, whose 35 years as a volunteer, teacher and campaigner in the heart of Newbury’s community clearly resounded with residents, particularly in the light of draconian Conservative council cuts at all levels.

The result in full was:

Elizabeth O’Keeffe (Liberal Democrat) 487
Craig Hughes (Conservative) 307
Steve Wallis (Green) 173
Gary Puffett (Labour) 142
David McMahon (UKIP) 118
David Yates (Apolitical) 23
Lee McDougall (Ind) 20

Turnout 34%

Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative

The result last year (May 2015) was:

Victoria result

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

Read more by .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Pawel Urbanski
    This subject needs far more attention and more noise from Liberal Democrats, particularly in London. Rob’s direction is right, and the report is useful. But w...
  • Peter Davies
    London is a special case. There wasn't enough undeveloped land without planning permission sold to get an accurate figure. What matters is what developers think...
  • Tim
    @peter - Land prices have not been rising, at least in London, for ages. The idea that developers string out negotiations is hard to sustain in the context of t...
  • Jim Webber
    I spent 17 years in London. Nothing speaks louder about the problems affecting this country than the closure of key bridges in our country's capital. The closur...
  • PM
    "{Building more council houses} is an admirable ambition, but very unlikely to happen when our government is short of money." We managed to build ...