Tag Archives: iain donaldson

Rochdale by-election – Lib Dem Iain Donaldson only mainstream party candidate to maintain vote

Waking up to the news that the divisive George Galloway has yet again been elected to Parliament is not what any liberal minded person ever wants to do.

Galloway topped the poll in Rochdale by over 6000 votes on a turnout of 39.7%. However, he is unlikely to be there for long given that there is a General Election coming very soon.

He won in a bitter campaign where both Labour and the Greens had disowned their candidates.

Here’s the result in full:

George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain) – 12,335 – 39.7% (+39.7%)
David Anthony Tully (Independent) – 6,638 – 21.3% (+21.3%)
Paul Ellison (Conservative) – 3,731 – 12% (-22%)
Azhar Ali (Labour’s disowned candidate) – 2,402 7.7% (-48.4%)
Iain Donaldson (Liberal Democrats) – 2,164 7% (0.0%)
Simon Danczuk (Reform UK) – 1,968 6.3% (Brexit Party got 8.2% in 2019)
William Howarth (Independent) – 523
Mark Coleman (Independent) – 455
Guy Otten (Green’s disowned candidate) – 436
Michael Howarth (Independent) – 246
Ravin Rodent Subortna (Monster Raving Loony Party) – 209

Massive thanks go to our Iain Donaldson and his agent, a veteran of many campaigns, Paul Trollope. If we are looking for positives, we are the only mainstream party to hold on to our General Election vote share which is no mean feat in a by-election like this.

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A great gain and 2 strong holds in this week’s by-elections

There were a couple of great results in this week’s local government by-elections.

In the Four Marks and Medstead ward of East Hampshire District Council, Roland Richardson held on to the seat with 62.2% of the vote! Thanks to ALDC for compiling the results.

Also in Hertfordshire, Caroline Smith-Wright held the Tring West and Rural ward on Dacorum District Council with an even greater vote share.

DACORUM DC; Tring West & Rural Ward

🔵 Con, , 21.1%, -3.0%
🔴 Lab, , 7.6%, -0.3%
🔶SMITH-WRIGHT, Caroline, LibDem, , 62.7%, +12.8%
🟢 Green, , 8.6%, -9.6%

EAST HAMPSHIRE DC; Four Marks & Medstead

🔶 RICHARDSON, Roland, LibDem, 1212, 62.2%, +11.7%
🔵 Con, 736, 37.8%, -11.7%

Avenue ward in Hull has been the site of many a good scrap between us and Labour over the years. The ward was represented by ALDC’s Abi Bell until she stood down a couple of years ago and in this year’s local elections returned 2 Labour and 1 Lib Dem Councillor.

That changed on Thursday when Rhiannon Beeson took a seat from Labour:

KINGSTON-UPON-HULL UA; Avenue

🔶 BEESON, Rhiannon, LibDem, 45.7%, +4,3%
🔵 Con, 1.7, -1.3%
🟢 Green, 7.6%, +7.6%
🔘 Ind, 5.3%, +5.3%
🔴 Lab, 39.7%,-8.7%

And thanks to Susan Jay for standing for us and making sure people had the chance to vote Lib Dem in the Rhos ward of Neath Port Talbot

Lab, 137, 14.5%, -30.9%
🔶 JAY, Susan Helen, LibDem, 60, +6.3%, +6.3%
🟢 Green, 15, 1.6%, +1.6%
🟩 Plaid, 242, 25.5%, -29.1%
🔘 Ind, 494, 52.1%, +52.1%

Elsewhere, the two parliamentary by-elections have taken up most of the headlines. The Wellingborough and Kingswood seats were not great prospects for us, but we did have excellent candidates in Andrew Brown and Ana Savage Gunn. We lost our deposits, but that happens in seats where we are not in competition. These were not the same kind of places as the four by-election seats we have gained in this Parliament.

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Empty homes policy launch

Details arrive at the Voice of a launch of our General Election housing policy:

The Liberal Democrats today set out plans to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use, making homes available for people who need them and creating 65,000 jobs.

There are over 760,000 empty properties across England which are no longer used as homes but can be brought back into use with some investment. People who own these homes will get a grant or a cheap loan to renovate them so they can be used: grants if the home is for social housing, loans for

Posted in General Election and Local government | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 22 Comments
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