The Conservative have gained overall control of Harrogate Council, it has previously been run as a Conservative minority administration. This has come about as a result of the defection of from the Lib Dems. The Lib Dem defector Cllr John Wren. He represents the Woodfield ward on Harrogate Borough Council and the Bilton Nidd Gorge ward on North Yorkshire County Council.
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I gather that two other councillors in Shropshire have also defected to the Tories. Oh dear.
At councillor level defections happen all the time, and in all directions.
There are all kinds of reasons why these things happen as well. Sometime ideological, sometimes personality bust ups, sometimes personal ambition, or a combination of the above.
I think what would be interesting would to find out what the national trends of defections are. That will tell us something about the state of the parties. Individual cases say very little.
I think Geoffrey is right….also I would be interested to know what people think of the view that such defections should automatically trigger a by-election…it is not just a case of correct representation but in this case the defection clearly has had much wider implications for the balance of power on the council as a whole…
I get the impression that the general trend in recent times has been from Lib Dems to Tories – not sure it tells us much, except that people who are more interested in personal advancement than principle will head in the direction of easiest re-election !!!
Of course people who are elected under a party label should offer themselves for re-election if they defect to another party. But they won’t !!!