There were four principal council by-elections in the week leading up to December 2nd, one of which was a rare Tuesday election out in Wales.  The trend toward good news for incumbents continued unabated with three out of four contests resulting in holds, none of which were particularly close.  

Tuesday’s match-up in the Ciliau Aeron ward of Ceredigion Council was the second Tuesday by-election of the year, after the famous Lib Dem defence of Whyteleafe in Tandridge on February 2nd (not that you needed to ask, of course).  Out in the valleys, it was Plaid who held on despite a surge of almost 20% to Liberal Democrat candidate Sonia Williams, an encouraging result that we look forward to seeing surpassed by the Ceredigion team next time around.  Of Thursdays two holds, we came out with silver on both occasions.  In the Haydock ward of St Helens, Labour put on 11% to hit mid-60’s in vote-share whilst we slipped 10 points to 27%.  Slightly closer was the 150 vote margin in Rugby’s Dunchurch & Knightlow, where Robert Turner Aird’s 40% of the vote kept the Rugby Lib Dems within touching distance of our Conservative opponents on a day where no party’s vote altered dramatically.  All of Thursday’s excitement was Poole-side, to coin a phrase, where the ‘Poole People – Putting Poole First’ party took both the Poole Town ward from the Tories and the Teacher’s Prize for achievement in alliteration!  Joking aside, the Poole People’s 33% of the vote on a first go is a very interesting development; though it seems mainly at the expense of UKIP and a previous (non-standing) Independent, with Peter David England’s tally for the Poole Lib Dems essentially unaffected.

There will be another three by-elections to report on next week, with the major parties defending one apiece.  Lib Dems will be fighting to keep hold of Bewsey & Whitecross in Warrington, whilst Labour and the Tories will be circling the wagons Truro and Fareham respectively.  The very best of luck to our candidates, councillors, and campaigners across the country.  

Craig Whittall
craig.whittall@aldc.org

It seems only fitting that the 182nd birthday of Leo Tolstoy would be an electoral epic.  When the new government decided to reverse Labour’s plans for Exeter and Norwich to become unitary councils with fresh elections next year, they also triggered deferred elections for the twenty-six seats that should have been contested in May.  Added to this haul are five principal council by-elections and a pair of non-principal contests in the towns, for a grand total of thirty-three elections to report on this week.

The big story, of course, were the deferred elections in Exeter and Norwich, both of which went to the polls to fill a full thirteen council places.  For the incurable electoral anoraks amongst you, it should be acknowledged that one of Exeter’s thirteen elections was a by-election proper – a casual vacancy caused by Conservative resignation, but for the sake of narrative coherence, we’ll treat them all together.  A total of three seats changed hands in Exeter on Sept 9th, Labour picked up two from the Tories, who mitigated their losses by taking the Heavitree ward from the local Liberal Party.  Labour’s two net gains may yet be enough for them to take control of the council (currently a Lib Dem minority administration), the issue of control will be decided at a meeting on 21st.  Two seats changed hands in Norwich, Labour picking up one from the Tories, and the formerly Lib Dem Thorpe Hamlet ward swinging dramatically to the Greens.  The minority Labour administration in Norwich looks set to continue on the strength of their single net gain, with the Greens as second largest party keeping pace at only two seats behind.  

Of the remaining five principal council by-elections, the Tories held the Aspatria and Wharrels division of Cumbria County Council, Labour held their seat in Ward 16 of Edinburgh City Council, and Jo Clements and the local Lib Dem team successfully held the Newtown seat on Poole.  Labour received their comeuppance in the Ayresome ward of Middlesbrough, where the electorate took the seat back to Independent after the previous Independent councillor defected to Labour before their resignation sparked the contest.  

The final result of the day was a much-needed victory for the Liberal Democrats in Northern England, as Karen Henshaw and the local Focus Team took the Kilnhouse ward on Fylde Borough Council from the Conservatives.  Known not only for her politics, but also as a committed member of Fylde’s civic society, choir member and friend of local parks, Karen’s knowledge of, and residence in, the Kilnhouse ward proved a solid base on which to build a campaign.  The local Lib Dem team kept the focus local, always the best practice, and successfully used a petition against a local tip closure as a basis for targeted mailings at election time.  Getting out on the doorstep paid dividends in terms of visibility and new canvass data, with further target letters to first-time voters and new residents building on Karen’s profile.  A well financed Tory campaign failed to deliver, and the absence of the candidate from the doorsteps was a common observation.  With a 21% upswing in support, the Fylde campaign demonstrates the old ALDC adage that ‘where we work we win’.  Our congratulations to Karen and the entire team in Fylde.  

A brief glance around the towns; we had two Town Council by-elections reported to ALDC, both for Spennymoor T.C. in Co Durham.  Labour held one, and lost the other to Lib Dem Benjamin Ord.  Well done to Benjamin and his team, and the best of luck to our candidates and campaigners fighting by-elections across the country.

ALDC By-Elections Team

Despite falling on the 344th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, this week’s crop of by-elections didn’t set the world on fire; we had no candidates in either of the two principal by-elections, and three of the four elections out in the towns were unremarkable Tory holds.  Both principals took place in West Lancashire, Labour held in Upholland on a 30% turnout and in Skelmersdale on 17%.  The Conservative holds at Town Council level were in the West Ward of Camborne T.C. in Cornwall, the Castle ward on Oswestry T.C. in Shropshire, and the Town ward of Sevenoaks T.C. in Kent.  

Bucking the trend were the Lib Dem campaign team in the Castle ward of Alnwick Town Council in Berwick-upon-Tweed, represented in parliament by the venerable Sir Alan Beith.  The Castle ward itself is now represented by Lib Dem Sarah Walton, herself an activist recruit during the 2010 General Election.  In Castle’s first competitive election, after a long history of uncontested co-options, the Lib Dem campaign team outmanoeuvred the complacent Conservative defence by keeping the focus firmly on local issues.  Sarah’s campaign to restore a recently-closed community play area was a key vote-winner and an excellent example of the traditional Lib Dem concern with community politics.  Congratulations to the entire Alnwick team.

Finally, a quick reminder that ALDC will be laying on a full training and fringe complement at Conference, details can be found at here.  Also, the ALDC website has two features under development; a ‘Big Picture’ of all council compositions across the country and our ‘Who’s Up in 2011’ page.  We would like readers to help us build these pages into a valuable resource for all of our campaigners by having a quick look and making sure our details for your area are fully up to date.  The best of luck to all of our campaign teams out in the field.

ALDC By-Elections Team

On July 29th there were three principal council by-elections and six contests out in the towns.  There was good news at all levels, on the former we gained a seat in Bath and North East Somerset, and in the latter we romped home with four gains out of the six!  

Our gain in the Radstock ward of Bath and North East Somerset District Council has taken us to within four seats of the Conservatives, who currently enjoy minority control with thirty-one seats overall.  That said, the Tories were no threat in this particular ward and their attacks on the ‘Bath-centric Liberal Democrats’ while running a candidate from Bath themselves, indicated how seriously they were taking the contest.  The only real contenders were an Independent and the Labour Party.  Labour polled second with a largely positive campaign centred on their candidate.  Our candidate Simon Allen was a new face in local politics and the campaign made a lot of a ‘Fresh Start for Radstock’.  The long experience of Bath and N.E.S. helping neighbouring constituencies at election time paid karmic dividends, when they received help from no fewer than twelve constituency parties across the region.  Weekly print-runs across a variety of colours and formats, a street letter linked a community action day on a local estate, and a well-timed postal vote campaign sealed the victory.  A legacy of fresh canvass data and a new deliverers network were the icing on the cake of our newest Liberal Democrat in local government.  Congratulations to Simon and the whole Bath and North East Somerset team.

Elsewhere, we came a close second in the Haywards Heath Franklands ward of Mid Sussex D.C., with a 27% increase in our vote-share, we were just eighty-one votes shy of picking up a second by-election seat on Mid-Sussex since May 6th.  In the towns, we took two seats off the Tories, in Crewekerne near Yeovil and Haywards Heath Town Council.  A gain from the Independents in Redruth and one off Labour on Keynsham Town Council near Bristol rounded off a good day at the office for our campaign teams across the country.  

 

ALDC By-Elections Team