Tag Archives: local elections 2014

Keith House

Opinion: View from the doorsteps of Eastleigh

By Keith House | Sun 1st June 2014 - 10:30 am

Eastleigh railwayman statue - Some rights reserved by Mr. Ducke

It was a warm, sunny spring with just odd showers in May in Eastleigh. We had unbelievably good local election results. Twelve months on from the County elections, that in turn had followed on from the Eastleigh by-election, when UKIP gained 50% of the County seats in the Parliamentary seat, we expected to lose seats.  The odds were that at least five and potentially seven seats could go out of the thirteen we were defending.  In the end, we won all thirteen.

This …

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The Voice

Tim Pickstone: This is a rough time, but we need to get back out on the doorsteps this Summer

By The Voice | Thu 29th May 2014 - 2:45 pm

ALDC Master Logo (for screen)We’ve been searching for inspiring and helpful post-election emails this week. We covered Willie Rennie’s and Maajid Nawaz’s earlier. Here is what ALDC Chief Executive Tim Pickstone sent to members:

This has been, and remains, a tough few days to be a Liberal Democrat.

Losing elections is always tough. But in the last few days every single one of us has lost an election, and a good number of us have lost two.

Again we have had to lose too many hard working Liberal Democrat councillors. In too many cases now wards which were hard fought and won over many years or decades no longer have Lib Dem representation. There are council groups who have played a huge role in our Lib Dem family that either don’t exist now, or are down to a handful of members. Our MEP team that played such a huge role in our success across Britain are no longer with us bar one.

I know just how hard so many people worked and still didn’t win. I know many people will be feeling rough and we need to support each other.

We should, of course, congratulate the 407 Liberal Democrat Councillors (plus one Mayor and one MEP) who have won seats on Thursday. The vast majority of you are ALDC members. Winning anywhere is an achievement in current circumstances. so very well done.

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Caron Lindsay

A day of light and ideas

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 28th May 2014 - 9:51 am

Sunrise Little Trout Bay 4These last five days have been among the worst I have known in my almost 31 years of being a part of this wonderful party. I’d pretty much prepared myself for winning only a couple of MEPs. Even those limited ambitions proved to be wildly optimistic. Seeing massive Labour fiefdoms recreated in London and Manchester. t’s been bruising, brutal and fraught. Seeing friends and colleagues lose their jobs and seats through no fault of their own is heartbreaking. And to lose them to wrecking, scapegoating UKIP types …

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Nick Perry

Opinion: Where we work we get a pasting

By Nick Perry | Tue 27th May 2014 - 3:08 pm

Blackadder Quote From DVDAfter another bruising local government election in Hastings & Rye – a parliamentary target back in 1997 – the Liberal Democrats remain without any councillors on Hastings Borough Council and notched up a pallid 7% of the vote across the town.

This is pretty much a re-run of the 2012 result. Once again, targeting just one Council ward, we achieved a swing from Labour to Lib Dem, but did not come close to a gain.

This is one of the foremost bellweather constituencies of the South East, and is already a key Tory-Labour battleground for the 2015 General Election.

We have a functional local party here, with committed folk, many of whom have been members for a very long time.

I know that we have worked like stink for as long as I have lived down here (since 2007, when I was first selected as PPC) trusting in the leadership and the old slogan of ‘Where we work, we win’. Except it’s not true.

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David Schmitz

Opinion: Political scalps grow back

By David Schmitz | Mon 26th May 2014 - 5:34 pm

Nick Clegg listening York Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsUntil Friday, I was a Lib Dem Councillor in the London Borough of Haringey, where I enjoyed a reputation as an effective local representative. As one constituent put it

I have never been able to fathom why for example, people express their anger at the government in Westminster by voting out of office the guy in  the next street who gets your drains unblocked or your broken windows  fixed. And the same here is true of David. I hope that when election time comes around, people

…

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Nick T

Now is not the time for a bitter and bloody leadership battle

By Nick T | Sun 25th May 2014 - 2:10 pm

Nick Clegg addresses Birmingham Liberal Democrats conference. Photo courtesy of the Liberal DemocratsOne of the most interesting (and logistically challenging – though that’s another story) conference fringe events I have had a hand in organising through my involvement with Liberal Reform was a panel of fellow liberals from across Europe talking about their experiences of being members of a coalition.

I wanted to hold such an event to counter the all too prevalent assumption that the problems facing the Liberal Democrats are somehow unique to us. Because they are most certainly not.

Where parties enter …

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Caron Lindsay

Wondering who to vote for today? #EP2014

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 22nd May 2014 - 12:30 pm

Liberal Democrat badge - Some rights reserved by Paul Walter, Newbury, UKOnly about a third of people normally vote in European and Council elections. If you are one of the two thirds who hasn’t made their way to the polling station yet, please read on. This stuff actually matters.

Your MEPs and Councillors make decisions that affect your daily life, be it mobile phone charges on your holiday, potentially your job if it’s funded by European money, or the care your parents receive or the quality of your local parks.

Clearly I’d love it if you voted Liberal Democrat for your benefit as much as mine as a party member. Here are some reasons why:

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The Voice

Edward McMillan-Scott: Yorkshire benefits from access to Single European Market

By The Voice | Wed 21st May 2014 - 1:06 pm

Yorkshire DalesLiberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber Edward McMillan-Scott has been talking to the Yorkshire Post about the benefits staying in the EU brings to the region and asked those who believe in the EU to vote Liberal Democrat tomorrow:

There is no doubt whatsoever that as much as any region this one is benefiting from access to the single European market. The other side of that is inward investment. Siemens would not have committed themselves to Hull (to build a major wind turbine plant) unless they

…

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP on post-22 May leadership speculation: “Ashdown would cut my balls off if I criticised Clegg”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th May 2014 - 11:45 am

Paddy Ashdown talks on "The global power shift" in Brussels March 1st 2012 - Some rights reserved by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Lib Dems are braced for a tricky week. This Thursday will see the first UK-wide election since 2010, with voters choosing who represents them in the European Parliament. Many voters across England will also get to decide who runs their local council.

Votes for the local elections will be counted on that night and throughout Friday. If this year follows the pattern of the previous three years, the Lib Dems could …

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Stephen Tall

Battle of the Election Videos: Lib Dems’ “Incredible Silent Man” v. “Labour’s Un-credible Shrinking Man”

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th May 2014 - 4:20 pm

So Labour’s party election broadcast then… Titled The Un-credible Shrinking Man it mocks Nick Clegg as a deluded patsy of the posho Tories. He starts off being offered a biscuit and ends up being chased across the cabinet table by a big cat. Because he’s shrunk, y’see. And naked. I’m not sure I’m doing its nuanced subtlety justice. It’s sort-of funny, at least if you enjoy laughing at one-dimensional caricatures which fit your pre-existing bias – a bit like a sketch for Radio 4’s The Now Show. You can watch it for yourselves here.

Kudos to the Lib Dem team at Great George Street who immediately re-packaged the party’s own video The Incredible Silent Man chiding Labour leader Ed Miliband’s reluctance to take the fight to Ukip or make the case for Europe:

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Alice Thomas

Opinion: The Gender Agenda: What Liberal Democrat Women can do for women candidates

By Alice Thomas | Wed 7th May 2014 - 10:31 am

Campaigning on the doorstep - Lynne FeatherstoneOn May 22nd I’m fighting my first local election as a candidate. I’ve been stuffing envelopes and knocking on doors for other people for 8 years, but with a seat on Islington Council in the balance, this time it seems a little more real.

But I’m lucky. I’m fighting – and fighting hard – alongside a councillor with 8 years experience, and an experienced campaigner who’s already fought a by-election. The ward has two Lib Dem councillors out of three, and if we all get elected, …

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Stephen Tall

Local elections 2014: your quick-and-easy guide to the Lib Dem numbers that matter

By Stephen Tall | Tue 29th April 2014 - 8:00 am

Polling station sign. Photo credit: nilexuk on FlickrLib Dems in England will need no reminding that 22nd May isn’t just European election polling day: it’s also local election day across all 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 74 second-tier district authorities, 20 unitary authorities and five directly-elected mayoral posts.

There are 4,216 seats up for grabs. No party is contesting them all, though as you can see both Labour and Conservatives are fielding candidates in more than 90% of them, while the Lib Dems are contesting 65%. Ukip will be standing in just under 50% of seats and the Greens in 42%.*

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The Voice

Coincidence or not? Ukip put candidate named House to take on Eastleigh’s Lib Dem council leader Keith House

By The Voice | Sun 27th April 2014 - 12:45 pm

keith houseThe Eastleigh News reports what might be accident or might be design – Ukip’s decision to put up a candidate called House against the Lib Dems’ long-standing council leader, Keith House:

Eastleigh’s ruling Lib Dem leader Keith House faces an unusual challenger in next month’s local elections – the Ukip candidate shares the same surname and is alphabetically listed above the Lib Dem by one letter.

John House comes from Chandler’s Ford, some way away from Hedge End’s Wildern ward, which raises the possibility that this is a tactical move by

…

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Helen Duffett

Polling Day for the 2014 local elections set for May 22nd

By Helen Duffett | Mon 1st July 2013 - 4:41 pm

From the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors:

Well we all knew it was coming but now it’s confirmed. A statement in the House of Commons… confirms that the 2014 local elections will be on the same day as the European elections in the UK – Thursday 22nd May 2014. We’ll send out a draft timetable shortly.

The full statement:

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis): As I informed the House on 26 March, Official Report, column 84WS, we published a consultation document inviting views on whether or not we should, subject

…

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Mary Reid

Nick Clegg announces the Chair of the 2014 Election Campaign

By Mary Reid | Tue 28th May 2013 - 5:09 pm

Tim FarronMembers have just received this email from Nick Clegg:

The 2014 local and European elections are hugely important, so I’m putting one of our best campaigners in charge – Tim Farron.

The dust may have barely settled since this May’s local elections but it’s never too early to start work on the next set. No one embodies that more than Tim, a true 24/7 campaigner, working hard all year round – just ask the people of Westmorland and Lonsdale.

Given the critical importance of these elections for Liberal Democrat representation at a local …

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