From the Independent:
Liberal Democrats made two landslide gains from Tories in the latest council by-elections, suggesting their voting support has not been dented after the resignation from the Government of Chris Huhne.
Their candidate Chris Lofts took Northamptonshire County Council’s Towcester division on a massive swing of more than 30% since the 2009 shire polls.
Party colleague Lisa Samiotis triumphed at Towcester Brook, South Northamptonshire District.
This brings the total of Lib Dem gains this month to three, after a win from Labour last week.
This week’s results, courtesy of ALDC are as follows:
Hampshire CC, Winchester Southern Parishes
Con 1661 (53.8; -3.8)
LD Vivian Achwal 1038 (33.6; +6.6)
UKIP 133 (4.3; -7.9)
Green 130 (4.2; +4.2)
Lab 124 (4.0; +1.0)
Majority 623
Turnout 25.45%
Con hold
Staffordshire CC, Leek South
Con 725 (27.3; -0.9)
UKIP 556 (20.9; -15.7)
Lab 432 (16.2; +6.5)
LD John Fisher 419 (15.8; -3.0)
Moorlands Democratic Alliance 336 (12.6; +12.6)
Ind 192 (7.2; +7.2)
Majority 169
Turnout 21.89%
Con gain from UKIP
Staffordshire Moorlands DC, Leek North
Lab 514 (54.9; +22.8)
UKIP 188 (20.1; -13.8)
Con 178 (19.0; -1.6)
Moorlands Democratic Alliance 33 (3.5; +3.5)
LD Roy Gregg 24 (2.6; +2.6)
[Ind (0.0; -13.5)]
Majority 326
Turnout 24%
Lab gain from UKIP
Leek TC, Leek North
Lab 495 (52.5)
UKIP 197 (20.9)
Con 181 (19.2)
Moorlands Democratic Alliance 43 (4.6)
LD Roy Gregg 26 (2.8)
Majority 298
Turnout 24%
Lab gain from UKIP.
South Lakeland DC, Windermere Town
LD Jo Stephenson 418 (72.9; +3.0)
Con 85 (14.8; -0.4)
Lab 50 (8.7; -6.1)
UKIP 20 (3.5; +3.5)
Majority 333
Turnout not known
LD hold
Suffolk CC, Kesgrave and Rushmere St Andrew
Con 1302 (49.7; -7.5)
Lab 804 (30.7; +16.7)
LD Derrick Fairbrother 514 (19.6; -9.3)
Majority 498
Turnout 17.1%
Con hold
Suffolk Coastal DC, Kesgrave East
Con 531 (55.0; +11.2)
Lab 241 (24.9; +3.0)
LD Derrick Fairbrother 194 (20.1; +2.6)
[Green (0.0; -16.9)]
Majority 290
Turnout 13.4%
Con hold
Deal TC, North Deal
Lab 521 (36.4)
Con 505 (35.3)
LD Robin Hook 406 (28.4)
Majority 16
Turnout 28.72%
Lab hold.
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15 Comments
What’s the toaster all about?
It’s a favourite photo and a play on words: Towcester/toaster.
Pah – no mention of Lib Dem gain in Launceston Town Council by just three votes! – http://lansonboy.blogspot.com/2012/02/that-was-close.html
“Liberal Democrats made two landslide gains from Tories in the latest council by-elections, suggesting their voting support has not been dented after the resignation from the Government of Chris Huhne.”
Actually, it suggests Lib Dem support has rocketed after Huhne’s resignation – at least in Northamptonshire. But in Suffolk it has been severely dented. Except apparently in Kesgrave _East_, where it rose slightly.
Alternatively, it may be that a handful of local election results don’t tell us much about the party’s national standing.
Excellent results all round.
Spectacular results in Towecester.
Team farron clearly aren’t working hard enough, mind š
So far in 2012 I make our share of the vote 32% & Labours 25%.
Of course theres only been 21 contests so far, we need as many again before the figres settle down.
Vote share did increase steadily over last year though.
UKIP have been having a bad week of it, haven’t they?
Excellent results.
Awful toaster pun!
For some reason the full Towcester results do not appear above, and are not on the front of ALDC’s website either. Here they are:
South Northamptonshire DC, Towcester Brook
LD Lisa Samiotis 774 (59.4; +15.5)
Con 401 (30.8; -11.8)
UKIP 129 (9.9; -3.7)
Majority 373
Turnout not known
LD gain from Con.
Percentage change is since May 2011.
Northamptonshire CC, Towcester
LD Chris Lofts 1279 (60.7; +32.6)
Con 638 (30.3; -30.7)
UKIP 124 (5.9; +5.9)
BNP 66 (3.1; +3.1)
[Lab (0.0; -10.8)]
Majority 641
Turnout not known
LD gain from Con.
Percentage change is since June 2009.
Excellent result, by a hardworking local team. May there be many more of them!
Many thanks for all the kind words about our stunning victory here in Towcester. As many have said it was a triumph of local activists over arrogant outsiders. Our campaign was hard work but made lighter by unprecedented help from team lib dem, own goals by the opposition also helped. It shows that sticking to issues that matter locally pays rewards.
Richard – sadly as there were lots of by-elections this week the Towcester results had dropped on to the second of our by-election results pages.
Delighted to hear these results for Towcester/South Northants – the area has been traditionally a very strong Conservative stronghold for decades! Well done Lib Dems!
Not quite Rebekah. Towcester was first won for us by Ian Miller in 1981. he beat the local lady of the manor Lady Hesketh (whose son has now sold the family estate and joined UKIP). It was won again by us in at least two elections in the 1990’s, together with a number of district seats in the town. We retained a presence on the town council, but our revival really started last year with the gain of two of the town’s five district council seats.
Chris deserves this result. The local Libs keep us informed throughout the year, and do what they promise. We only hear from the “the others” a week or so before elections.