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.

There were four principal council by-elections held on the 19th November. The Tories lost one seat to an Independent and hled one seat.  Labour gained one seat from an Independent and the SNP held a seat. In the only Parish and Town council election result reported to ALDC the Tories held the seat.

In the very rural Cholmondeley Ward of East Cheshire Unitary Council our candidate was Bryan Halson. We ran a one-leaflet campaign in a very challenging area for us. Not only had the there been little political activity from us in the recent past it was also physically challenging. The problem here is sheer distance, taking 45 minutes to drive across the ward and lots of dispersed housing. The new Unitary Authority is still working on the old (very large) county ward boundaries and the Boundary Commission is currently looking at boundary changes. We focussed our effort in the area that could be delivered. One village was targeted for work as it will make up the heart of a new ward just proposed Here we got 32% in its box on the night and so the team are planning to build on this.

In the Coleford East ward of the Forest of Dean council in Gloucestershire we nearly won from a standing start. Following recent by-election success we threw all our resources at this one and got within 37 votes of victory. We did not even stand a candidate last time it was fought but with the enthusiasm generated by the Mitcheldean and Drybrook victory in August we fought vigorously.

Finally, two reminders.  Don't forget that the final date for getting on the electoral register that will be used for council nominations is Friday 5th February.  Whilst this feels like some way off it will no doubt come round very quickly and you don't want to leave it until it's too late.  If you're still in the process of approving your candidates don't forget that we have advice on our website to help you do this too.