Tag Archives: Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election

The real story of Sleaford and North Hykeham that you won’t see in the media in one picture

Something for you to promote about the place a bit.

 

Sleaford and North Hykeham change in vote share

On half the turnout, Liberal Democrats still increased their actual number of votes and were the only party to do so.

 

 

Posted in News | 12 Comments

Sleaford & North Hykeham: Lib Dem vote almost doubles, rises to 3rd. Labour collapses.

Well, I said earlier that double figures would be a very good result for the Liberal Democrats in Sleaford and North Hykeham. Had this poll taken place during the coalition years, we’d have ended up in last place with our tails very much between our legs. Our percentage vote went up from 5.7 to 11% and we beat the official opposition to come 3rd. We got more actual votes than we did in 2015 despite a turnout that was down fro 70% to 37%. The Tory and UKIP votes almost halved in comparison and Labour only managed a third of their 2015 total.

Conservative 17570
UKIP 4426
Lib Dems 3606
Labour 3363
Lincs Ind 2892
Independent 462
Loony 200
Independent 186
Independent 74
Bus Pass Elvis 55

This was far from a like-for-like with Richmond where we had, until 2010, held the seat. Nor had the area voted Remain. I wonder what we could have achieved with a Richmond style campaign from the start.

Posted in News | 32 Comments

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

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.

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Emotion, mischief, hard work and an absent friend: inside the Sleaford & North Hykeham campaign

Yesterday, sitting at my desk here in Sleaford and North Hykeham two of the best activists I have had the pleasure of working with over my 28 years in the party, were somewhat surprised to see me holding my head in my hands and crying.

The morning had been busy, too busy, the press have just noticed that this by-election is happening, and I have lots to do. Too much to do. In fact we are doing massive amounts and it’s going well. But I had a wobble and so went out delivering a round of leaflets or two. It’s cold here in Lincolnshire on these December mornings and it’s clears your head a little. But nonetheless I was thinking too much and making little progress. As I got back in the car and went to come back to the HQ we put the radio on and out came Snow Patrol’s Run.

Let me explain – my best mate Cllr Neil Trafford was killed in a car crash 8 years ago and at his memorial service – 8 years ago on 6 December 2008 (!) we played a recording of his sister Hannah singing Run.

Now this by-election in deepest Lincolnshire is going on and Neil is one of the people I would have turned to for help, advice and assistance. He would have loved it and been here and amusing us all, and he would have been causing mischief. As it is, I am causing enough mischief.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 4 Comments

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

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.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 13 Comments

Join the biggest Liberal Democrat campaign Lincolnshire has ever seen

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.

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

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.

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Lib Dems surge as Corbyn’s Labour falters behind Tories

Since May 2016, the Liberal Democrats have been the clear winners when it comes to taking seats in local by-elections.  Many campaigners will have seen the following graph:
bar-chart
With 21 seats gained, and only 1 lost, the net result of +20, with our vote share averaging up 9% is a good recovery which the party should be proud of.   We need to continue to work hard, but at the same time, steady progress.

Conventional thinking would have us believe that when a party is in Government, they do badly in elections.  Conversely, opposition parties should be doing well.  Therefore, if Labour were to be on a serious road to power, it should be thrashing the Conservatives by achieving net gains from them.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 9 Comments
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