There were eight principal council elections held on the 25th February. The Lib Dems gained two seats  - one from Labour and one from the Tories. Labour held one seat and gained three from the Mansfield Independent Forum.  The Tories held one seat. There were four Town and Parish Council results reported to ALDC. Two were Lib Dem gains from the Tories and one was a Lib Dem gain from Labour. The Tories held one seat.

The Eastwood South Ward of Broxtowe District Council lies in the new Ashfield parliamentary constituency in Nottinghamshire where Geoff Hoon has recently announced his retirement – before he was soundly beaten.

We won the county seat last June with 49.7% of the vote so mopping up one of the District seats should perhaps come as no surprise, but it’s still a welcome fillip in the run up to the General election and an opportunity for some intensive Voter ID and general doorstep contact. The majority of our vote last June in the county election came from the Lib Dem held Eastwood North district seat so the large, historically Labour voting council estate in Eastwood South presented a challenge. Our enthusiastic team focussed on voter contact on foot and the phone and a massive poster display together with the usual literature campaign. A great result that bodes well for May!

In the Fenstanton Ward of Huntingdonshire District Council, our candidate fought hard in 2007 getting within twelve votes of the Tories. He did not give up, he carried on campaigning month in month out producing Focus. His persistence has proved that genuinely working all year round really works. When this by-election was called the Tories went into overdrive aware that their MP was in difficulties over expenses but to no avail.  

Unfortunately it was not all good news. In the new Central Devon parliamentary constituency and Mid Devon district council we failed to hold our seat in Yeo, losing badly to the Tories.

There were six principal council elections held on the 18th February. Labour held one seat and the Tories two. We lost two seats to Labour but gained one from the Tories There were four Town and Parish Council results reported to ALDC. A Tory hold, two Lib Dem holds and a Lib Dem gain from Plaid.

In the Pendre Ward of Bridgend Council in Wales we managed to lose to Labour by just seven votes having won the seat by seven votes just two years ago. We ran a good literature and doorstep campaign but we needed to use the phone before and on polling day. In retrospect the campaign must be kicking themselves for only starting to knock up at 3pm. When we won by seven in 2008 it was a straight fight between us and Labour. This time, as is usual in by-elections, a wider range of parties stood. With four non-Labour candidates to choose from, first past the post allowed the anti-Labour vote to be split.

Leeds City Council is run by a joint Con/Lib Dem administration. In the Hyde Park and Woodhouse Ward we ran a very intensive campaign with plenty of help but we were defeated by a uniformly negative Labour campaign attacking the administration. We weren’t helped by an existing councillor in the ward who had been elected as a Lib Dem defecting to Labour in the final week of the campaign.  Though the turnout was low it was not untypical of the ward, which is part student part social housing.  The bin strike and the closure of a local school did not help.
 
In the Ivybridge Filham by-election for South Hams District Council in Devon we took a seat from the Tories. It may have been complacency from the Tories – or perhaps their activity was largely covert using direct mail and phoning – but our people reckon the Tories only did one leaflet and hardly any door knocking. We did an A4, an A3, blue letter, eve of poll, good morning leaflets. We phoned every house in the ward and knocked on every door in the ward and on polling day we knocked up every D and P at least three times.

Sadly I have to report another seat we were defending where we failed to stand a candidate! Birstall Watermead Ward of Charnwood Borough Council in Leicestershire.

There were three principal council by-elections held on the 12th November. The Tories gained two seats, one from an Independent and one from the Lib Dems. In the only Parish and Town council election result reported to ALDC the Lib Dems held the seat.

In the Totnes Bridgetown Ward by-election for South Hams District Council in Devon we held a seat in a split ward.  Our candidate was well known as the local community bus driver, and this time there was no Independent.  We concentrated on canvassing and then getting our supporters to turn out.  In contrast the Tories just didn't work as hard and knocked-up every single house regardless of voting intention.

In the Shepway council seat of New Romney Coast in 2007 we narrowly won both seats by 20 votes over the Tories. But by September one of our councillors had defected to the Tories, one of a number of defections from the group in recent years. It was this “defected” councillor's resignation that caused the by-election.  Technically a loss to the Tories but it felt like a Tory hold.

Most active campaigners will be preparing their Christmas focuses and perhaps Christmas cards and calendars as well. This is a really good time to include some direct mail. You could perhaps a personal “blue” letter into the envelope with your Christmas cards. Why not deliver to your “pool” along with your calendars with a New Year , new politics message?

Calendars are particularly useful as they emphasis how we can help and be genuinely, really useful.  Many people keep them and pin them to notice boards at home or work, which gives them a permanent reminder of the local Liberal Democrat team.

Key features
·    Full calendar for 2010
·    Dates of advice surgeries highlighted on the calendar - if you don't have surgeries you could use this space to tell people what to do if they need help from their local Liberal Democrat team (you could also colour in the term dates on the calendar as well if you wished)
·    A place to put in the contact details for local councillors, MP, PPC or MEP
·    Contact numbers for key local services - this is often one of the main reasons keep our calendar over any others they might get.
Templates are available on the ALDC website for members.
 

There were five principal council elections held on the 12th March. The Tories held one seat, Labour two and the Lib Dems made a gain from Independents. In Scotland the SNP gained a seat off Labour. There were two Town and Parish Council results reported to ALDC. Labour held one and the Lib Dems gained one from UKIP.

The Hartland and Bradworthy by-election for Torridge Council in Devon showed the advantage of an extremely well known local candidate. Brian Redwood is an active parish councillor and charity fundraiser. If you’ve got a candidate this good, get them on the doorstep. Comments like “you’re the only ones that we’ve seen” and “you’re the only ones doing anything” demonstrate the difference getting on the doorstep makes.

With the county elections fast approaching make sure you’ve organised enough voter ID sessions to give a workable shuttleworth for polling day. Don’t be afraid to start now, If you call “on behalf of Fred Bloggs the Liberal Democrat standing in the County elections on June the 4th” you would obviously be declaring his candidacy but for most this is not a problem. The earliest the regulated period for local election expenditure can start is the 28th April – this would be the case if your candidacy were declared on any day prior to the 28th. Only for those who intend to spend up to the limit in the regulated period will this be an issue.

St Helens had two by-elections, one in Rainhill, which we targeted; the other in Parr, which we did not. Both had strong Labour majorities and the Lib Dems had no existing organisational or campaigning infrastructure. To complicate matters we run St Helens council with the Tories so were defending the council’s record. Whilst two second places may not sound good both the BNP and the Tories were marginalised. The campaign developed the ambition, experience and skills of the local party, and demonstrated that the Lib Dems are the party who can take the parliamentary seat off Shaun Woodard at the general election.

In the Norwich City Council by-election in Bowthorpe ward we saw a massive 20% leap in our share of the vote. If the swings were repeated in the General election we would take the Norwich South parliamentary seat from Labour.

There were five principal council elections held on the 26th February. The Tories held two seats and gained one from the Ratepayers. Labour gained a seat from the Lib Dems. The Lib Dems gained one seat off the Tories. There was one Town and Parish Council result reported to ALDC which the Tories held.

In Epsom and Ewell we had two by-elections running concurrently. Wisely we focussed on our defence in Court Ward. At the time of writing the post mortem has yet to be held but it looks likely that, as usual, more than one cause led to our defeat. However one of the stronger reasons seems to have been the messages from the opposition. In 2007 we caught Labour napping. With two strong local issues we took all three seats. Unfortunately at the time of the by-election neither issue had been visibly resolved. This gave Labour plenty of ammunition combined with a more resilient Tory vote to let them slip back in.

On East Devon District council in the Honiton St. Michaels Ward the Tories were complacent and stood a candidate from outside the Ward. The Labour PPC lived in the Ward yet they gave up and failed to stand a candidate. We stood a well-respected Town councillor. The campaign was competent but nothing special. In 2003 we only stood two candidates in a three councillor ward – a simple tactical mistake and we lost. In 2007 we did not even stand a candidate making the victory even more dramatic.

Remember the regulated period for European Election Expenses has started (5th Feb – 4th June). If you are any doubt a ) include either a joint local election /Euro election imprint or b) if you’ve no locals election in June then use the Euro Election imprint on all materials or literature you use in the regulated period. Start now to keep copies of literature and their associated invoices to help your Local Party Treasurer submit his part of the Euro Election expense return after polling day. Your Local Party Treasurer will have received a letter from Cowley Street with further details.