Tag Archives: ross pepper

Caron Lindsay

Another late night waiting a by-election result: Lib Dems doing “better than expected”

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 9th December 2016 - 1:04 am

So who’s still up waiting for the Sleaford result then?

This would be the sort of seat where, in recent years, we’d have without question lost our deposit.

We just managed to retain it last year in the General Election, polling 5.7%.

So what would be a good result for us?

Well, anything above that would be good.

Very good would be double figures.

Absolutely miraculously excellent would be exceeding the results we had in 2010 and 2005 – 18.2%.

What does the party do when they are already focused on a highly winnable by-election in a held seat and another one happens? During the coalition years, we might have just ignored it, but this was an opportunity to try out new things in an area which had voted to Leave. So we sent a couple of our acest campaigners up there – Lincolnshire lad Ed Fordham who has form for inspiring the troops and pulling off unexpected results, and Yorkshire’s Ian Horner. They led a fantastic team of East Midlands activists who delivered an incredible campaign.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 11 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Sleaford & North Hykeham: Steeped in Lib Dem history and an important part of the Lib Dem revival

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 4th December 2016 - 10:23 pm

Every time I hear more about what’s going on in the Liberal Democrat campaign in Sleaford and North Hykeham, it just makes me smile.

My 11 years in the East Midlands has left me with a huge affection for the area and I’m just thrilled that an initially small band of Lib Dems with a mission are delivering an energetic and positive campaign in a part of the world that has been relatively unblessed with regular Focus delivery. Until now.

Candidate Ross Pepper and ace campaigner and regular LDV contributor Ed Fordham have put together a campaign that has reached all those communities the Tories have been taking for granted for years. They even have a minibus!

Ross has the advantage of being the only candidate who voted for Remain in the referendum so he alone is in tune with 40% of the electorate. But it’s not just about Remain and Leave. Many people are alarmed by what has happened since the Referendum, how the Tories are pushing us towards a hard Brexit and how Labour don’t really seem interested in doing even the most basic job of an opposition. They like what we have to say about putting the power in their hands by giving them a vote on the final deal.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 13 Comments
Andrew Hollyer

Join the biggest Liberal Democrat campaign Lincolnshire has ever seen

By Andrew Hollyer | Sun 4th December 2016 - 8:45 am

The brilliant result in Richmond Park on Thursday has given a real boost to the other Parliamentary by-election happening right now – in the Sleaford and North Hykeham constituency in Lincolnshire. This by-election was called after the Tory MP resigned over the Government’s approach to the single market, and whilst it may be at the other end of the ‘remain vote scale’ from Richmond Park, there are still many thousands of people looking for a strong and positive voice for their views.

The local party has been working hard over the past few weeks under the radar. However, now Richmond Park is won, we desperately need as many people as possible to focus their attentions here to deliver the best result possible on Thursday.

On Friday, our candidate in the election, Ross Pepper, was joined by Party Leader Tim Farron MP and the work continued on Saturday, with over 50 people coming to help deliver newspapers and Focus leaflets or to stuff letters.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 13 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Richmond Park is an important milestone – but it’s only the start

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 2nd December 2016 - 9:58 am

Well, we’re winning parliamentary by-elections again. Who’d have thought it possible on that awful night almost 19 months ago?

Liberal Democrats everywhere are grinning this morning. We’ve seen the brilliant local government results over the past few months. We saw the amazing Liz Leffman surge forward in the Tory heartland of Witney in October. Now, we have actually won another MP.

We shouldn’t under-estimate how massive a task winning Richmond Park was. It’s only been 37 days since Zac resigned. We had just over 5 weeks to change the agenda from Heathrow to Brexit and win the argument. A combination of clever literature, a fantastic candidate and an army of activists prepared to drop everything did it. Way back in the 90s when we were winning by-elections all the time, we had at least 3 times as long to make our case.

We also shouldn’t under-estimate how important it was that we won this. It was a seat we used to hold with a whacking great Remain vote. If we hadn’t, even if we had had a Witney type surge, people would have doubted our ability to change the political weather.

Sarah Olney’s victory has shown that we have still got what it takes to win the big moments. That is incredibly important for the outside world to see. Theresa May will be hoping that her MPs in similar seats to Richmond, where there is Liberal Democrat history, don’t cause any further by-elections.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 29 Comments
Ross Pepper

From Witney to Richmond Park – and then to Sleaford and North Hykeham

By Ross Pepper | Thu 24th November 2016 - 8:55 am

ross-pepperWow.  That’s the only response that I have found so far that fully expresses our delight, surprise, joy and gratitude at the level of activity and campaign that has been launched so quickly and so effectively for the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election.

Our objective in this by-election is simple – we want to build and light as many beacons of liberal democracy across the towns and villages here in the middle of Lincolnshire.  We are determined to end the way that the Tories have taken Lincolnshire for

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • Craig Levene
    Labour have already stated a wish to renegotiate a better deal with the EU, what that will look like is anyone's guess. They've repeatedly ruled out SM member...
  • Alex Macfie
    @Craig Levene: Of course she was, that's what you'd expect her to be doing. Alexis Jay may well have influenced government policy and actions (although this may...
  • Craig Levene
    Alex. In Professor Jay's interview with the Guardian in November 2024 , she clearly states she was pressing Government ministers to commit to the reports findin...
  • Mick Taylor
    Daniel Stylianou: There would be no by-elections to a reformed HoL as under PR you can always appoint the next one on the party list or recount STV. That's how ...
  • Mick Taylor
    About time too...