The winning team in Surbiton Hill - From left: Cllr Liz Green (Deputy Leader of the Council), Edward Davey MP, Cllr John Ayles, Cllr Derek Osbourne (Leader of the Council).

What better start could we have had to Federal Conference than our first gain from Labour in a principal council by-election since the formation of the coalition.

The Borough of Gedling covers a number of towns and villages around the edge of Nottingham, and was the scene of a massive swing to Labour in May when they gained 23 seats and took control. One of those 23 gains was Phoenix ward where sitting Lib Dem councillor Andrew Ellwood lost his seat by just four votes. However, just three months later one of the ward’s Labour councillors resigned after deciding to go off and teach in Mexico.

The by-election was an incredibly hard fought campaign on both sides. Labour swamped the ward with huge numbers of helpers and ran a campaign that focused solely on heavily attacking us on national issues. Instead, we ran a very local campaign emphasising the credentials of Andrew Ellwood. This consisted of regular canvassing along with weekly leaflets using lots of photos and articles about how good a councillor he was for the area. This message contrasted sharply with the lack of commitment from the outgoing Labour councillor after quitting so soon. We managed to get lots of help from surrounding areas, but were still vastly outnumbered by Labour on polling day. However, in the end our message was much more effective and it saw Andrew elected back on to the council.

The other significant by-election for the Lib Dems was our defence of the Surbiton Hill ward in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Surbiton Hill had traditionally been safely Conservative but we gained it by just 103 votes in 2010. The circumstances of the by-election were unfortunate when hugely promising Lib Dem councillor Umesh Parekh had to resign when his new employers decided his job should be politically restricted. The Conservatives put up their former councillor who had expected to be council leader until his defeat, but they were no match for a very effective campaign that saw excellent candidate John Ayles win. The big lesson was to keep knocking on doors. Not only did this gather huge amounts of canvass data, but it also helped to reconnect us with those supporters who had become less enthusiastic about voting for us.

Although the latest by-election results saw the sad loss of a Liberal Democrat seat in Purbeck District Council in Dorset, the results in two other wards were quite encouraging.

The by-election in Lytchett Matravers was in Annette Brooke’s Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency, and was gained from the Conservatives for the first time last year. The by-election was caused by the sudden resignation of that same councillor for health reasons, and this (along with the national situation) conspired to help us lose the seat. However, a hard fought campaign with a good candidate and much regional support kept the swing down to just 5%. Sadly, this now means that the Conservatives move to be the largest party on a council where we have minority control.

In Derbyshire, we had an impressive 11% increase in our vote in a vacancy caused by the death of a local Independent. Sawley is a large village on the Nottinghamshire border and was once good territory for the party. This is the first time the local party has managed to run a campaign on this scale which included regular Focuses, surveys, postal vote letters and plenty of canvassing. As in Dorset, it was achieved thanks to lots of help from the surrounding area (a tip for other by-elections contests is to make sure people from outside of your area come and help). Although we didn’t win, the local party are pleased that their hardwork paid off and they got a result well beyond their highest expectations.

Finally, in Peckham in Southwark we ran another intensive campaign capitalising on the compelling life story of our candidate. Peckham born and bred, Jennifer Blake is a former gang member who has now turned her life around and runs a charity helping local young people get out of lives dominated by guns and gangs. Whilst this was a great campaigning opportunity and her personal story was a major part of the campaign, (much more so than the party she represented), our choice of candidate showed that our campaign was genuinely about the community and trying to improve the area. We were rewarded with the highest increase in the Lib Dem vote in a Labour held ward since July last year (the last being in Darlington).

It’s difficult these days to say “where you work you win,” as many councillors found out in May that working hard certainly doesn’t guarantee you victory anymore. However one thing that’s clear from this week’s by-elections is that running an intensive campaign that genuinely engages voters with issues they care about, (and with a candidate who they can relate to), certainly helps get you nearer to winning.

For many Egyptians, November 4th is better known as ‘Love Day’, a localised version of Valentine’s Day initially conceived, pun intended, in the 1970’s.  If anyone needs a bit of love after last Thursday, it is our Liberal Democrat campaign teams across the country who’ve had a bit of a torrid time.  

Of the seven principal authority by-elections that took place on the 4th, a total of four changed hands.  Our worst result on the day was the loss of the Lyth Valley ward on South Lakeland District Council to the Tories by a wafer-thin 23 votes.  A Conservative hold in Ponteland East on Northumberland County Council was cold comfort as they lost two of their defences to Labour.  Plaid picked up a seat in the Cenarth ward of Carmarthenshire County Council with a healthy 80% of the vote.  Labour were the main beneficiaries of the contests, holding a brace with successful defences in the Ladywell ward of Lewisham and Hulme in Manchester – where a turnout of only 10.9% makes it difficult to read much of a meaning into the result.  Labour also picked up Coleridge ward on Cambridge City Council and Moredon in Swindon from the Tories.  This leaves the net results for the main parties as; Labour up two, Tories down one, and Lib Dems down one.  

It’s high tide for cheap headlines and easy answers in the press, and a post-CSR bounce for Labour isn’t exactly a surprise.  Doing as we always do, keeping our focus on our communities, working our wards, listening to the people and letting them know what we’ve done for them in their area, is still the key to success.  It is worth remembering that when the smoke clears and the hot air cools down, we will still be there out delivering on our promises, and Labour will still be stood empty handed on the sidelines.  ALDC are here to make sure our members stay ahead of the game, with weekly updates on election news, best practice, and artwork templates.  There is also the G8 programme of financial assistance for council groups for the upcoming local elections, annual Kickstart two-day residential training event, and regional ‘Flying Start’ day-long training sessions scheduled across the country.  You can find details of all these and more at www.aldc.org.  The best of luck to all of our councillors, candidates, and campaigners in the field.

Craig Whittall
craig.whittall@aldc.org

There were three principal council by-elections this week, and one reported contest out in the towns.  Labour held both of the seats they were defending; putting 17% on their previous tally in the Kentish Town ward in Camden, and a marginal increase in East Kilbride West in South Lanarkshire.  In both seats, the Liberal Democrat vote held up better than current polling would indicate and we continue to track around 5% above our national opinion poll average when it comes to real elections.  

Our featured story this week is the successful defence of the Springbank ward on Cheltenham Borough Council, where nearly seven out of ten voters backed Cheltenham Lib Dems’ Chris Coleman.  With a history of regular Focus and street letters, Chris’ previous experience as a borough councillor, and a large store of public goodwill based on the association of the party with the popular Springbank Community Resource Centre, Springbank had all the makings of a successful campaign.  This was delivered, with help from across the town and as far afield as Gloucestershire and Bath, and phone canvassing from the Western Counties phone bank.  The campaign saw three Focus leaflets, including an excellent colour A3 folded down to A4 with a ward-map detailing Lib Dem achievements as the centre page.  This worked particularly well as a counter to the Labour charge that the party had done nothing for the ward, which, in a feat of strategic brilliance, they decided to put out after our Focus had already landed!  An M.P.’s endorsement, cream letter, and hand-addressed postal vote knock-up rounded out the pre-polling day literature.  The Focus team used local knowledge and previous canvass experience to stagger their election day knock-ups according to who they knew would be in at different times of the day.  Combined with telephone knock-up and full telling cover, the polling day operation was well-run and bore fruit.  When asked what lessons had been learned from the day, Councillor Chris Coleman commented ‘that traditional ALDC-style campaigning still works, and the other parties still don’t have an answer’.  A sentiment with which this unbiased observer couldn’t agree more!

Out in the towns, Labour held on to their seat on Great Aycliffe Town Council.  There will a total of seven principal by-election contests to report on next week, including on South Lakeland and Manchester MBC.  The very best of luck to our candidates and campaigners across the country.

Craig Whittall
craig.whittall@aldc.org