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 four principal council elections held on the 4th February. The Tories held one seat. The Lib Dems held one seat but also lost two seats to Labour. There were three Parish council elections reported to ALDC.

Rarely, thankfully, do we have to report on an utter disaster, but that was the case in the Holmewood and Heath by-election in North East Derbyshire. In 2007 two Labour councillors were elected for the ward un-opposed. In fact they had been unopposed for the last 20 years and only Labour had ever been elected in this coal mining and largely council housing renting area. In April 2008 there was a by-election that we won with 42% and a 26 vote majority.  Our sitting councillor resigned after 14 months non-attendance due to ill health and we failed to stand a candidate to defend the seat. The problem may have come from the ward switching from the  North East Derbyshire constituency to Bolsover in the boundary changes but whatever the reason conceding without a fight borders on the politically criminal.

Further bad news came in the form of a loss to Labour in the Queens Park Ward of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.  The Lib Dem’s in Blackburn form part of a joint administration. The seat was vacant beacuse the councillor resigned - he had been expelled from the Group for non-attendance and he subsequently resigned from the Council The council's weekly bin collections and Housing Market Renewal scheme were popular, its gritting and ensuing bin collection problems were not - particularly when polling day itself involved snow related traffic problems.

The line was finally drawn at the Whyteleafe Ward of Tandridge District Council in Surrey, where recently appointed PPC David Lee led the party to a successful defence.   A general ‘anti’ vote drove the UKIP vote share well beyond the likely return on their limited campaign, and a half-hearted Tory effort failed to register dramatically.  The Labour party failed to field a candidate.  Creating a legacy of new canvass data, in addition to returning a Liberal Democrat Councillor to Tandridge DC, makes the Lee campaign a bright spot in an otherwise dreary February week. 

The only other principal election this week was an unremarkable Conservative Hold in the Newchapel Ward of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.  The Tories held off UKIP by only 60 votes, an early indication, perhaps, of the electoral dangers currently facing the Conservatives in 2010’s new political climate.
 

There were two principal council elections held on the 28th January. The Lib Dems held one seat and gained one from the Tories. In the only  Town and Parish Council results reported to ALDC the Tories held the seat.

The Great Bowden and Arden Ward of Harborough District Council in Leicestershire saw this year’s first by-election gain, at the expense of the Conservatives.  Tory attacks fell flat when faced with candidate Phil Knowles’ wide experience of local issues and hard-working reputation established during his previous time as councillor.  The campaign’s popular position on a touchstone local planning issue was further boosted by extensive media coverage following a visit by party President Baroness Ros Scott.  Emphasising the importance of local issues and grassroots activism throughout, the Knowles campaign used regular Focuses, Street and Targeted mailing, and an extensive door-knocking in terrible weather to open our 2010 local elections with a resounding success.

Thursday saw the second by-election in the Lyngford Ward of Taunton-Deane District council in Somerset. In October last year another of our three seats in the ward was successfully defended in a by-election, so given that this was a disqualification this was another good result.  Key to our success here was a lot of good preparation given that we knew a by-election was likely. In a cold winters campaign 47% of votes cast were postal and 67% of all postal voters voted. Lucky , then that we sent blue letters and knocked up our postal voters. Falling within Jeremy Browne’s Taunton constituency this was a second piece of good news following his successful appeal against his “Legg letter”.  The Tory candidate didn’t bother to attend the count in October but was so confident that he was there to see them lose this time

There was one principal council by-election held on the 29th October. The Liberal Democrats held the seat. There was one Parish and Town council election results reported to ALDC, a Tory hold.

In the Huntingdon North Ward of Huntingdonshire District Council they had their third election of the year. The County elections were followed by a town council by-election where we made a gain off the Tories before our sitting district councillor moved.  In a two-member ward the Tories had won well in 2008 and in the by-election we were defending a majority of 19 from 2007. Our strong campaign was matched with a five-leaflet UKIP campaign, which may have taken votes from the Tories. UKIP tried to mobilise resentment in a very deprived ward against East European migrants whilst Labour mobilised them to vote. We ran a proficient campaign holding all others off to increase our majority from 19 to 30.

The 11th of November is the first date on which a death or resignation of a councillor who would otherwise be up for re-election on May 6th 2010 will cease to cause a by-election under the “six month rule”.  To avoid unnecessary by-elections for the last six months of a councillor’s period of office no by-election is normally held if they resign or die. The vacancy is held open until the normal date for the election of that office. This Is not to be confused with the other 6 month rule that relates to the disqualification of any councillor who fails to attends council meetings for 6 months.

The six-month rule applies only when the vacancy is deemed to have occurred within six months. It is not enough that the election has only been triggered within the six months. So an October death, will cause a by-election even though the election may not be triggered until the vacancy is formally notified, which could be later and within six months of the next election. For those who would normally be up for election on May 6th 2010, their term of office would expire on May 10th 2010  (4 days after the election) and therefore resignations, deaths etc that occur after November 10th 2009 will not trigger a by election.