It isn’t very often that Liberal Democrats are wont to celebrate a good defection, but June 17th marks a unique anniversary in the combined histories of Cold War geopolitics and international dance.  It was 49 years to the day since ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev danced a hasty pas de deux with his Soviet bodyguards before vaulting into airport security in Paris to claim political asylum in France.  Unfortunately, our by-election teams proved a little less nimble out in the field - of the four principal council by-elections on the 17th, Liberal Democrats were defending in one, standing in three, and won in none.  

Our one loss for the week took place in the North Holme ward of East Lindsey District Council in Lincolnshire.  The key to understanding this dramatic decline is hidden in the percentage change, the Lib Dem vote was down roughly 60% on 2007 – such a high figure usually indicates the lack of another major party candidate in the previous election, and in 2007 the contest was solely between us and the BNP.  Whilst it was inevitable we’d lose a number of votes when Labour and the Tories fielded candidates this time around, all losses are disappointing and in this case we finished behind the BNP, who took third place by fourteen votes.  Labour took the seat with a majority of thirty-one.  Labour won in Hastings, with a 12% Con-Lab swing and our candidate dropping roughly 2% to place third.  The Tories gained a measure of compensation with two gains of their own.  Firstly, a near 20% swing won the Conservatives a seat in the Earls Barton ward of Wellingborough Council in Northamptonshire and, secondly, walking in unopposed to a by-election victory in Chichester.  

Winning Candidate John Griffin at the Site of his Winning Opposition to a New Housing Development

Whilst June 3rd was a good day for by-election watchers this year, it suffers from a relative lack of whimsy in its anniversary celebrations.  One interesting tidbit however is that it was 54 years since British Railways renamed their ‘Third Class’ carriages to ‘Second Class’, arguably a greater victory for mass social mobility than has been achieved at any point since!  In by-election terms there were three principal council contests fought on Thursday, we were defending two in St Albans and pushing for a win in rural South Oxfordshire.

The Crowmarsh ward of South Oxfordshire District Council is safely ensconced in the Conservative stronghold of Henley, a famous stomping ground for big Tory beasts past and present – Baron Heseltine and Boris Johnson – and a constituency that celebrates an unbroken century of Conservative representation at Westminster in December this year.  Successful candidate John Griffin is a well-known figure in the area, having served as councillor for Crowmarsh before in the mid-late 1990s and currently serving as leader of the Crowmarsh Parish Council.  The Lib Dem campaign picked up a wealth of canvass data, pounding the streets with the assistance of the East Oxfordshire Lib Dems, and gained a positive response to their popular opposition to a proposed housing development in Crowmarsh itself.  In national terms, the coalition also went over well on the doorstep – with a large number of voters giving the Liberal Democrats plaudits for taking a brave step in the national interest.  

The remaining principal council results were a pair of successful defences in the St Albans area.  A notable Conservative stronghold throughout its electoral history, one point interest can be found in the work of John Bamford Slack M.P., the Liberal Member of Parliament for St Albans between 1904 and 1906.  On May 12 1905, Slack gave his place on the Private Members Bill ballot to a motion to introduce full voting rights for women.  Some years ahead of the times, the Womens Enfranchisement Bill was shamefully filibustered by anti-suffragist Members drawing out a prolonged discussion of the Lighting of Vehicles Bill that preceded it on the order paper.  Back in the modern day, at County Council level Lib Dem Martin Frearson was returned to represent the St Albans South division on Hertfordshire CC, keeping the Lib Dem opposition numbers at 16 County Councillors to the Tories’ 55.  The by-election for the Ashley ward on St Albans District Council was an exciting affair – we were defending a council majority of just two seats – but with 49.5% of the popular vote, the St Albans Lib Dem team and new Councillor Andy Grant safely retained their seat.  

A quick word on the best of the rest, we received reports of a handsome Liberal Democrat gain in the Gannel Ward of Newquay Town Council.  A straight head-to-head with the defending Conservatives saw our man David Sleeman elected to council with roughly 60% of the vote.  The next by-elections we currently have on the books are three on the 17th June.  Congratulations to all this week’s winning teams, and the very best of luck to all of our campaigners in the field.

ALDC By-Elections Team

There have been two election days since the last update, Tuesday 25th for the delayed elections in Camden’s Haverstock ward, and Thursday 27th for Ryde South on the Isle of Wight and a variety of deferred- and by-elections for Town Councils across the country.  

In the first serious electoral test since the formation of the coalition, the Liberal Democrat team in Camden successfully defended three seats in the deferred elections in the Haverstock ward.  A quick note on classifications; we are reporting this result as two hold and one gain despite there being three Lib Dem councillors on both the 5th and 7th of May.  In 2006, the voters of Camden returned two Labour and one Liberal Democrat in Haverstock.  One of the Labour councillors was replaced by a Lib Dem in a by-election in July 2007, whilst the second change was the result of defection.  When treating elections, the ALDC policy is to use the will of the voters as expressed at the ballot box as the basis for its results classifications, therefore the seat that saw a defection has still technically been gained from Labour - the party that received the winning number of votes the last time that seat was contested.  With a small increase in the Lib Dem tallies, albeit on a turnout only half that of the other borough elections on May 6th, our Haverstock holds kept the group total at thirteen councillors and capped Camden’s net losses at seven.  

Bad news from the Isle of Wight, whose Ryde South ward was gained by the Conservatives with a 10% increase on 2009.  The sitting councillor had been elected Liberal Democrat before becoming independent and so, in line with the principle outlined above, the Ryde South ward by-election goes into our losses column.  A near 20% upswing saw Labour into second place and our candidate Tony Zeid came in third.  

In the non-principle council elections, the Conservatives notched up five Town Council gains, one of which – on Rugeley Town Council in Cannock Chase – was taken from the Liberal Democrats by the wafer-thin margin of four votes.  Out in the High Peak, it appears that the Green Party have finally found their own winning formula – taking a previously Lib Dem seat on New Mills Town Council by running completely unopposed.  The good news from the Towns is threefold; firstly, Tom Stubbs and the Truro Liberal Democrat team are celebrating his election to Truro City Council, taking the Trehaverne ward seat from an Independent.  Secondly, in the deferred elections for Stratford-on-Avon T.C., the Lib Dem majority was extended by three to fifteen out of a possible twenty councillors.  Finally, a resounding success on Kendal Town Council – a full, clean sweep of all 28 seats.  Congratulations and best wishes to all of our campaigners and councillors in Truro, Stratford, and Kendal.

All in all, a mixed bag of results as we move into June but our sure-footed defence in Camden, the most significant of this week’s elections in terms of voter numbers and councillors returned, bodes well for our campaigns teams as we move into the summer.  

ALDC By-Elections Team

With very little to report on by way of by-elections, this week’s one and only electoral contest was for a seat on Workington Town Council and sported no Liberal Democrat candidate, the ALDC by-elections team has decided to spend the week number-crunching our election results and are presenting some edited highlights here.  With a net loss of between 129 and 136 council seats (the discrepancy between our – latter – figures and the BBC’s appears to be the result of different approaches to classifying seats that have seen defections), it was a bad night for Liberal Democrats in local government.  Our actual losses around the country numbered 228, with the net loss figures softened by the approximately 100 gains that are the silver lining on this particular cloud.

The now-defunct Labour Government’s decision to stage the general election on the same day as the locals appears largely responsible for the over 400 net gains made by Labour around the country, a peculiar party-political privilege that may have been used for the last time - its repeal features in Nick Clegg’s forthcoming parliamentary reform bill.  Labour proved our main opponents in Unitary and Metropolitan council areas, in each of which over 80% of our losses were to Labour.  Our overall outcome in the Unitaries was one of our better results, with just nine net losses in councillor numbers, but of those we lost, Labour proved the principal beneficiaries.  This trend was replicated in our London results, where two-thirds of all our losses were to Labour, and further compounded by the London elections being all-out.  In total, 44% of all Lib Dem losses, 102 seats, were sustained in the capital.  The trend was bucked in the English District Councils, where our greatest opposition has proved to be the Tories.  Of the 44 recorded losses in the Districts, 27 were to the Conservatives, 61% of the total.  As the coalition approaches its first anniversary next May, the shape of the campaigns in the Districts will be interesting to watch.  The summary tables of our ward losses are reprinted below.

With a deferred election for the three seats of the London Borough of Camden’s Haverstock ward and a by-election in Ryde South on the Isle of Wight, there will hopefully be richer pickings for us next week.  In the meantime, remember to keep up to date with all the latest guidance, artwork, and advice, available at www.aldc.org.

Whilst it was an unhappy birthday for Tony Blair, May 6th will surely be remembered from now on as a historic day in British political history.  In other parts of the Western world, it was the 18th International No Diet Day defending body-shape diversity and celebrated with a blue ribbon (or a Blue Riband, perhaps).  In-keeping with this theme, there was a veritable feast of political contests to enjoy last Thursday - there were 51 principal by-elections reported to ALDC this week.  A number of these took place in wards which had scheduled local elections as well and in cases like this it is impossible to tell which of the two elected candidates was elected in the ‘by-’, so today we are covering the 34 seats for which the competition was purely a by-election.  

Of those 34 individual by-elections, the headline opposition figures are as follows; the Tories successfully held 15, Labour held 3, and the SNP defended their seat in Strathallan ward in Perth and Kinross.  In terms of opposition gains, there were two Conservative gains from Independents, and Labour took one from both Tories and Independents as well as a third from the Liberal Democrats in the Burnley Central East ward of Lancashire County Council, somewhat bucking the trend in Burnley, which now has its first Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament.  

Our by-elections account comprised six successful defences, including taking 57% of the vote in the Seaton ward of East Devon District Council, an increase of 16% on 2007 – congratulations to Peter Burrows and the Lib Dem team in Devon for a remarkable achievement.  We also posted four gains in principal council by-elections on the 6th, taking a seat from an Independent on Ryedale District Council in North Yorkshire, and three from the Tories; Willerby and Kirk Ella on the East Riding of Yorkshire, Pennsylvania ward in Exeter City, and the Haywards Heath Heath (so good they named it twice…) ward of Mid Sussex District Council.  Our best wishes to new Councillor Sue Ng in Mid-Sussex and agent James McCleary who, in addition to fighting the general election, put out weekly ward-wide by-election materials, linked the by-election campaign into their parliamentary blue letters, and put on 35% of new canvass data across Haywards Heath Heath over the course of the campaign.  With a 71.5% turnout and a winning margin of 40 votes, the combined Eve of Poll and Good Morning activities may have played a decisive role in getting the ‘shuttleworth’ out in sufficient numbers to edge the victory.  

It remains to be seen whether it will be ‘business as usual’ from next week, and what kinds of effects we will be likely to see in upcoming by-elections as a result of joining the Government.  With the next local by-election due in Workington on May 20th, it will be an interesting wait.   Congratulations to all of our candidates who took part in last Thursday’s elections and the innumerable hard-working election teams who make everything we do possible. 

ALDC By-Elections Team