Tag Archives: aldc

What a set of results to get us set for the busy year ahead. Two fantastic gains resulting in 2 new councillors as well as majority control of Three Rivers District Council! Not even today’s weather can stop the gains!

The overall result confirmed recent trends: it was an excellent night for the Lib Dems with Labour’s support continuing to fall everywhere, including places they’ve taken for granted for a very long time.

In Sunderland, Stephen O’Brien gained a seat from Labour and joins Niall Hodson on the Council, doubling our group size! The gain from Labour came in the Sandhill ward of Sunderland city council in a contest after the disqualification of a Labour councillor for non-attendance.

The teams message was clear – the Lib Dem team will stand up to Labour’s wasteful spending and work hard to get things done for local people. Sunderland is in desperate need of proper representation at the Town Hall, having been taken for granted by Labour for years.

ALDC monitors and records the results of council by-elections on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. All our by-election results are also posted on our website.

Another busy night saw 10 principal by-elections, all in England and all with Lib Dem candidates. Fielding a full slate in the principal by-elections around the country in itself is a fantastic achievement.

One to watch this week was Broadstone ward in Poole with a by-election triggered by the resignation of the sitting Conservative councillor. Candidate Vikki Slade is fighting Conservative plans to bus services and youth services and will be a strong local voice, standing up for residents. Vikki and the team have convincingly beat the Tories into second place with a 24% swing and getting 69.3%. Fantastic work and well done!

The results in full are:
LD Vikki Slade 2184
Conservative 733
UKIP 121
Green 57
Labour 45
Majority: 1451
 LD gain from Conservatives
(Percentage change since 2015)

Two by-elections in Tim Farron country saw the team hold two seats for the Lib Dems on Cumbria County Council and South Lakeland District Council. They did this with a convincing lead over the Tories of 224 votes and 185 respectively. Well done to Steve Rooke who is now elected to Cumbria County Council and Andrew Jarvis elected to South Lakeland District Council.

This week has seen ten prinicipal council by-elections across the country – nine on Thursday and one on Tuesday night. Lib Dem candidates contested seven of the ten.

In the Tuesday night by-election in Plasnewydd (Cardiff) Lib Dem candidate Robin Rea had a spectacular win, gaining the ward from Labour with a 48.1% share of the vote (up +15.4% since the ward was last contested in 2012). Labour were pushed into second place on 34.8%, and Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives and the Greens all saw a drop in their vote share.  Congratulations to Cllr Rea and the team in Plasnewydd for an excellent result to round off our party conference!

Thursday night saw yet more Lib Dem gains. Alison Eden and the team in Teignmouth Central ward, Teignbridge BC almost doubled the Lib Dem vote share to gain the ward from the Conservatives. Alison and won the ward with an amazing 51.1% of the vote (+26.8% since 2015) and a majority of 205. Both the Conservatives and Labour both saw a drop in their vote share (of -3.7% and -8.1% respectively). Congratulations to Cllr Eden & the team for such an impressive result!

Another Lib Dem gain came in the form of Hadleigh ward, Suffolk County Council, where Trevor Sheldrick pushed the Tories into second place and won the ward with a 182 vote majority (36.2%; +12.0%).  A huge congratulations to Cllr Sheldrick and the team!

Last night saw six principal council by-elections held across the country and there were some fantastic results for the Lib Dems!

David Hancock and the team in Tupton ward in North East Derbyshire stormed to victory in a Labour stronghold with a 37.4% share of the vote. The team in Tupton worked incredibly hard on the ground to push Labour’s share of the vote down 33.9% (a decrease of 33.2%) following the resignation of a local Labour councillor.  The Conservatives came in third with 19.3% (-13.6%). Huge congratulations go to Cllr Hancock and everyone involved in the campaign – it really does show how hard work and determination in by-elections can pay off.

In Bishop’s Castle (Shropshire) candidate Jonny Keeley held the Lib Dem seat following the resignation of Charlotte Barnes. Jonny and the team ran a strong grassroots local campaign with extensive door knocking in the ward.  They comfortably held the seat with a 61% share of the vote, keeping the Tories in second place with 29.7% share of the vote.

Last night saw nine principal council by-elections take place across the country, with Lib Dem candidates standing across the board.

In Redcar & Cleveland Carole Morgan and the team comfortably held Ormesby ward following the resignation and sad passing of Ann Wilson, a tireless local campaigner and ward councillor since 2009.  Carole and the Lib Dem team ran a strong campaign on protecting local green spaces and opposing the Labour controlled council. Councillor Morgan was elected with an amazing 75.4% share of the vote – up 37.3% since 2015! UKIP struggled into second place with 10.6% (down 6.8%), and Labour came in third with 9.7% (down 9.4%).

What a fantastic set of results again. With by-elections on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week we have seen a great deal of success amongst Lib Dem teams.

On Tuesday night in East Hampshire, the Lib Dems increased their vote share by a massive 43.6% in The Hangers & Forest ward having not stood there in 2015. Sadly this still meant coming second, with the Conservatives holding the seat by just 9 votes.

News on Wednesday was extremely positive with a gain in Totnes. Labour had failed to stand a candidate in a seat they had previously held, although the Independent candidate was a Labour member. The Lib Dem candidate John Birch won with 812 votes, increasing our vote share by 14.6%. It is a ward where we lost narrowly, by 12 votes, to the Greens in the last by-election in October 2015.

John fought the campaign on tackling the acute shortage of affordable housing and rented social housing in South Hams stating that priority should be given to reducing the housing waiting list and continual development of affordable housing in Totnes.

Our normal by-election night of Thursday did not disappoint with two holds and one gain. In Sutton, the team’s 30 years winning streak in Carshalton Central continued. The team won with 43.4% of the vote, with the Conservatives coming second with 36.9%. Noticeably UKIP’s vote decreased by 10.5% since 2014 when the seat was last fought.

Last night saw three by-elections taking place, in Eden, Conwy and Suffolk Councils, with the Liberal Democrats putting up candidates on two of the ballots; Penelope Appleton stood in the Mostyn ward in Conwy, and Jon Neal for the Carlford ward in Suffolk. All of the seats were held by their previous party, but in both of the wards where we stood we enjoyed a vote increase, of 4.1% in Conwy and 4.2% in Suffolk.

In Eden just two candidates stood for the Appleby ward, making it the first contested election in this ward for 13 years, following the death of the Independent councillor Keith Morgan. The Conservatives were represented by Philip Guest, who ran against the Independent candidate Karen Greenwood, with the area remaining an Independent hold, by 187 votes to 67.

The Conwy by-election was prompted by the resignation of Labour Councillor Jobi Hold, and was successfully defended by Labour, despite a decrease in their voting share of 8.7%. Between all the parties which stood in the previous election in 2012, the Liberal Democrats experienced the largest increase in their voting share at 4.1%, totalling 126 votes for Appleton. 

Yesterday saw four principal council by-elections take place. In Southwark (LB), there was a comfortable hold for the Liberal Democrats in Surrey Docks ward. Dan Whitehead polled 51.7% to take victory with a 894 vote majority. The party’s vote share also increased by 21.1% from the previous election two years ago.

In the neighboring borough of Lambeth, Labour narrowly avoided losing a seat in Gipsy Hill ward to the Green Party. Labour received 43.4% of the vote but saw their vote share plummet by 23.6% from 2014 to finish just 36 votes ahead of the Greens. Rosa Jesse polled 3% to finish fourth out of seven candidates.

Elsewhere, Labour made easier work of holding a seat in South ward in North East Lincolnshire (UA), winning with a majority of 296 votes. However, the party lost it’s seat in Basildon Laindon Park and Fryerns division in Essex (CC), with UKIP taking the seat by 434 votes. Liberal Democrat candidates were not fielded in these two contests.

Just one principal by-election is scheduled to take place next Thursday. There will be an election to fill a seat in Valley Hill ward in Kings Lynn & West Norfolk (DC), following the death of an Independent Councillor. Kate Sayer will be standing for the Liberal Democrats.

Three principal council by-elections were held this week. In East Staffordshire (DC), Labour made a gain from UKIP in Stapenhill ward. They polled 44.3% and increased their vote share by 12.5% to take the seat and move their representation on the Council up to 13 Councillors. Hugh Warner polled 1.5% for the Liberal Democrats with the party not having a stood a candidate last year.

Elsewhere, there were two confortable holds for the Conservatives in Hambleton (DC) and North Yorkshire (CC). The Tories polled 48% and 48.3% in Northallerton South ward and Northallerton division respectively. There was no Liberal Democrat representation in either contest.

Next week, six principal Council by-elections will be taking place across England, Scotland and Wales. In Lewes (DC) Will Elliott will be hoping to secure a hold for the local Lib Dems in Lewes Bridge ward. In addition, Janet Baah will be the Lib Dem candidate as the party defend a seat on Lewes Town Council. The party will also be fielding candidates in contests in Lambeth (LB), Dorset (CC), Mid Suffolk (DC), Argyll & Bute (UA) and in two seperate by-election in Denbighshire (UA). There will also be a deffered election in Rushmoor (BC), although no Liberal Democrat candidate is standing.