It has been a bit of a marathon this week, with twelve principal council by-elections to report on.  So, if you’re sitting comfortably…

Our featured story this week comes from Mole Valley Liberal Democrats, whose gain from the Tories in the Capel, Leigh, and Newdigate ward leaves them the largest party on Mole Valley District Council.  The campaign capitalised on Iain Murdoch’s previous experience as councillor for the area, promoting Iain as the ‘listening’ candidate and recalling his former success in opposing the Conservative-run County Council’s unpopular nearby incinerator.  The Focus team built on Iain’s reputation with three A3 spot-colour Focuses and a varied target mail campaign in which they emphasised the potential for becoming the biggest group on the council in letters to our members and supporters, whilst pushing the ‘listening candidate’ and ‘local candidate’ themes in letters out to soft Tories and Labour.  With a lot of help coming in from neighbouring parties, particularly in the Surrey area, blue letters went out in double-quick time and 40% new canvass data was added, taking canvass coverage over the last four years to 75%.  Whilst some residents became a little concerned by the fourth time they had been knocked up on election day, the quick delivery of Eve of Poll/Good Morning literature, alongside a ‘polling day’ leaflet mid-way through the day and a ‘time is running out’ card delivered near the end, ensured enough of our vote came out to see the Tories off by a handsome 60 votes.  The Green Party and UKIP limped in as also-rans, although UKIP’s ‘It’s a Two Horse Race’ and ‘Lib Dems Can’t Win Here’ bar-charts proved good for a laugh – their shameless plagiarism of Liberal Democrat artwork techniques almost got their vote into triple figures this time!

Whilst Labour’s successful defences in the Harworth ward of Bassetlaw District and the Manor Castle ward of Sheffield were hardly surprising, their gains from the Liberal Democrats in the Barton and Sandhills ward of Oxford and a win over the Tories in Medway’s River made it a reasonable day at the office.  The Conservatives held on in six of their seats; Great Missenden and the succinctly named Ashley Green, Latimer and Chenies ward on Chiltern DC; Abbey in East Staffordshire; the Hersham North seat on Elmbridge District Council; Andover South on Hampshire County Council; and the Ashwick Chilcompton and Stratton ward of Mendip District.  More disappointing, the Conservative victory in Swansea boosted their representation in the city to five.  Rounding out the results are the St George’s Hill Independents, who held the St George’s Hill ward on Elmbridge.

The net results for the week, therefore, are Labour up two, with the Tories and Lib Dems down one apiece.  Latest in a series of close second places, we came within 25 votes in Great Missenden, 51 votes in Medip, and 72 in Hampshire.  No prizes for coming second, but a strange thought that for just another 125 votes we could have been reporting another three gains!  Congratulations to all, and the best of luck to our teams in the field.

Craig Whittall
ALDC By-Elections Team

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

With very little to report on by way of by-elections, this week’s one and only electoral contest was for a seat on Workington Town Council and sported no Liberal Democrat candidate, the ALDC by-elections team has decided to spend the week number-crunching our election results and are presenting some edited highlights here.  With a net loss of between 129 and 136 council seats (the discrepancy between our – latter – figures and the BBC’s appears to be the result of different approaches to classifying seats that have seen defections), it was a bad night for Liberal Democrats in local government.  Our actual losses around the country numbered 228, with the net loss figures softened by the approximately 100 gains that are the silver lining on this particular cloud.

The now-defunct Labour Government’s decision to stage the general election on the same day as the locals appears largely responsible for the over 400 net gains made by Labour around the country, a peculiar party-political privilege that may have been used for the last time - its repeal features in Nick Clegg’s forthcoming parliamentary reform bill.  Labour proved our main opponents in Unitary and Metropolitan council areas, in each of which over 80% of our losses were to Labour.  Our overall outcome in the Unitaries was one of our better results, with just nine net losses in councillor numbers, but of those we lost, Labour proved the principal beneficiaries.  This trend was replicated in our London results, where two-thirds of all our losses were to Labour, and further compounded by the London elections being all-out.  In total, 44% of all Lib Dem losses, 102 seats, were sustained in the capital.  The trend was bucked in the English District Councils, where our greatest opposition has proved to be the Tories.  Of the 44 recorded losses in the Districts, 27 were to the Conservatives, 61% of the total.  As the coalition approaches its first anniversary next May, the shape of the campaigns in the Districts will be interesting to watch.  The summary tables of our ward losses are reprinted below.

With a deferred election for the three seats of the London Borough of Camden’s Haverstock ward and a by-election in Ryde South on the Isle of Wight, there will hopefully be richer pickings for us next week.  In the meantime, remember to keep up to date with all the latest guidance, artwork, and advice, available at www.aldc.org.

Whilst it was an unhappy birthday for Tony Blair, May 6th will surely be remembered from now on as a historic day in British political history.  In other parts of the Western world, it was the 18th International No Diet Day defending body-shape diversity and celebrated with a blue ribbon (or a Blue Riband, perhaps).  In-keeping with this theme, there was a veritable feast of political contests to enjoy last Thursday - there were 51 principal by-elections reported to ALDC this week.  A number of these took place in wards which had scheduled local elections as well and in cases like this it is impossible to tell which of the two elected candidates was elected in the ‘by-’, so today we are covering the 34 seats for which the competition was purely a by-election.  

Of those 34 individual by-elections, the headline opposition figures are as follows; the Tories successfully held 15, Labour held 3, and the SNP defended their seat in Strathallan ward in Perth and Kinross.  In terms of opposition gains, there were two Conservative gains from Independents, and Labour took one from both Tories and Independents as well as a third from the Liberal Democrats in the Burnley Central East ward of Lancashire County Council, somewhat bucking the trend in Burnley, which now has its first Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament.  

Our by-elections account comprised six successful defences, including taking 57% of the vote in the Seaton ward of East Devon District Council, an increase of 16% on 2007 – congratulations to Peter Burrows and the Lib Dem team in Devon for a remarkable achievement.  We also posted four gains in principal council by-elections on the 6th, taking a seat from an Independent on Ryedale District Council in North Yorkshire, and three from the Tories; Willerby and Kirk Ella on the East Riding of Yorkshire, Pennsylvania ward in Exeter City, and the Haywards Heath Heath (so good they named it twice…) ward of Mid Sussex District Council.  Our best wishes to new Councillor Sue Ng in Mid-Sussex and agent James McCleary who, in addition to fighting the general election, put out weekly ward-wide by-election materials, linked the by-election campaign into their parliamentary blue letters, and put on 35% of new canvass data across Haywards Heath Heath over the course of the campaign.  With a 71.5% turnout and a winning margin of 40 votes, the combined Eve of Poll and Good Morning activities may have played a decisive role in getting the ‘shuttleworth’ out in sufficient numbers to edge the victory.  

It remains to be seen whether it will be ‘business as usual’ from next week, and what kinds of effects we will be likely to see in upcoming by-elections as a result of joining the Government.  With the next local by-election due in Workington on May 20th, it will be an interesting wait.   Congratulations to all of our candidates who took part in last Thursday’s elections and the innumerable hard-working election teams who make everything we do possible. 

ALDC By-Elections Team

There were ten principal council by-elections held on the 10th December. The Lib Dems gained two seats from the Tories but lost one to Labour and held one. Labour took two seats off the Tories, one off the Lib Dems, one from the BNP and held one.

The Tories held two seats. In the five Parish and Town council election result reported to ALDC the Tories held one seat but lost a seat to the Lib Dems and another to an Independent. There was one hold for Labour and another for Independents.

The first gain off the Tories was in the Tavistock South ward of West Devon BC with a 33.5% increase in vote share off a very complacent Tory party who only delivered two leaflets and not to all properties in the ward. The Lib Dem campaign consisted of several Focuses, targeted blue letters, lots of telephone and doorstep canvassing and a concerted effort with the postal voters, showing again where we work we win.

The second gain off the Tories was in (ward number 3) of East Dunbartonshire UA Bearsden South, where we won at the third stage count in this STV election with 1770 against the Tories 1499 votes.

Details:

Stage 1:
Ashay Ghai LD 1110
Rachel Higgins Con 1261
Fiona Grace McLeod SNP 783
Manjinder Shergill Lab 626

Stage 2 elimination of Shergill:
LD 1381
Con 1306
SNP 902

Stage 3 elimination of McLeod:
LD 1770
Con 1499

This ward is in the Parliamentary seat of Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson, who has worked the whole constituency hard. One of the good things to come from this by-election is that after losing control of the council in 2007 the local party have used this by-election to give new impetus to the campaign for the 2012 council elections.

In the Heron Ward of Rushmoor BC we lost a seat to Labour after one of our councillors was disqualified for none attendance. We ran a full campaign but had a reduction of 8.1%, which meant we lost the seat by 83 votes.

So as you can see when we put the work in we reap the rewards.