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

Whilst the good people of São Tomé and Princípe were busy celebrating their annual ‘Agricultural Reform Day’, an altogether less exciting spectacle was developing across the Atlantic.  Of the six principal council by-elections that took place on the 30th, Liberal Democrats only ran in four, and came second in all of them!  

Admittedly, grabbing second place wasn’t the greatest of challenges in the Alderley ward of Cheshire East, an election that featured only two candidates.  Elsewhere, our strong showing in the South West continued with the Sedgemoor Lib Dems pushing the defending Labour party into third place, taking over 30% of the vote in Woolavington.  The Battle Hill ward of North Tyneside council saw the Lib Dems hold at a comfortable 35% of the vote, dropping marginally on May’s result but not by much.  The more distant finish was second place in Brandon ward of Durham County Council, where Labour’s 64% vote-share saw them through to an easy hold – the Durham Lib Dems still out-polled the third-place Tories by around four to one.  Tameside remains a bit of a desert, with no Lib Dem candidate in the Longendale by-election, and the presence of three fringe party candidates failed to stop Labour and the Conservatives taking 90% of the vote between them – in the end, Labour held with a 5% swing and majority around 200.  Finally, the defending Llais Gwynedd (‘Voice of Gwynedd’ for the Anglophones amongst us) were silenced by Plaid Cymru in Gwynedd’s Bowydd and Rhiw by-election, where Plaid appeared to be the main beneficiary of the absence of the Green Party from the ballot.

With no reported elections out in the towns, we have space to mention ALDC’s Kickstart residential training programme for the 2011 elections.  The ‘Early Bird’ discount runs out on the 8th of October, but some concessions for participants willing to share accommodation and campaigners from ‘starting off’ areas around the country remain.  More information and registration details, as ever, can be found on the ALDC website.  There will be nine principal council by-elections, two of which are Lib Dem defences, next week.  The very best of luck to our candidates and campaigners 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