A warm welcome back to our by-election watchers after our short summer sojourn.  The smattering of by-elections that took place on the 12th and 19th yielded very little in the way of news, with no gains or losses to report on, so we shall recommence with events from the 26th.  August 26th celebrates the anniversaries of two seminal events.  Firstly, it was 221 years since the newly-created French National Assembly adopted the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen’, a foundational document of liberal democracy and of the concept that citizens can possess inalienable human rights.  It was also 90 years since the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution came into effect, giving women across the United States the right to vote for the very first time.  Looking to add to the great liberal heritage of the 26th were our by-election teams in Redcar, Sheffield, Cannock Chase, South Buckinghamshire, and Dacorum.  

The best result of the day reaches us from Dacorum Borough Council, in Hertfordshire, where Rosemarie Hollinghurst took the very rural Aldbury & Wigginton ward from the Conservatives.  The local campaign team introduced Rosemarie as part of their post-General ‘thank-you- leaflet and followed up with an impressive array of literature.  Leaflets included an Election Special Focus (in three editions), a Candidate Introduction, and pre-election Focus.  Target letters went out on a local parking issue, environmental issues and local tip closure, a letter for new voters, and a soft-Tory squeeze letter – a section of the electorate becoming increasingly fertile ground for Liberal Democrat campaigns across the country.  Extensive canvassing coverage, with help from three neighbouring constituencies, a very popular blue-letter, and two mailshots out to postal voters helped confirm the ALDC adage that ‘where we work we win’.  Congratulations to Rosemarie, Nick, and all of our campaigners in Dacorum.  

No great surprises in South Bucks, where the Tories held on against a greatly increased UKIP challenge.  Labour remain within their comfort zone, holding in both Redcar & Cleveland and the Woodhouse ward in Sheffield, and picking off the Conservatives in Cannock Chase.  Out in the towns, our congratulations to the local Lib Dem team in Burgess Hill for taking the Victoria ward from the Tories.

August 5th is rapidly becoming known as International Beer Day, a celebration hoping to spread the word about this quaint and little-known British traditional beverage!  In need of more support, perhaps, are the nation’s by-election watchers; we have a paltry one principal council contest to report on and nothing at all out in the towns. 

The single election that took place was for the Sitwell ward on Rotherham M.B.C., with the Conservatives defending after the death of the previous councillor.  The Tories were successful in their defence, squeezing a four percent increase out of voters at the polls.

With no other by-elections to report, a quick word on ALDC’s training schedule at autumn Conference.  ALDC will be delivering twenty-eight training sessions in all, all taking place at the Jury’s Inn hotel in Liverpool.  A full training schedule can be found as part of the ‘Liverpool Highlights’ story at: http://www.aldc.org/myaldc/news/1798/05/08/2010/Liverpool_Highlights.  Please note that this training is free of charge for all delegates, but attendees will be asked to present their Liberal Democrat membership cards on arrival.

Another slow day for local democracy next time, August 12th has only two scheduled by-elections.  The Labour party will be defending the River ward of Medway Unitary Authority in the only principal council contest.  The second contest is for the Ham ward of Westbury Town Council – and our congratulations to Liberal Democrat David Jenkins, who has already managed to gain the seat from an Independent by running unopposed!  With this bird in the hand, we’re already off to a flying start!  The best of luck to all our campaign teams (including those who’ve already won). 

ALDC By-Elections Team

With nine principal council by-elections taking place on St Swithin’s day this year, we can only hope our electoral prospects don’t stay the same for the next forty days!  Of the two we were defending, we lost one, and we failed to pick up any seats elsewhere.  The Conservatives held steady, successfully defending four out of five; on Surrey Country Council (Worplesdon division); Great Marlow ward of Wycombe District; Wheatley ward on Rochford D.C.; and Pirbright in Guildford.  The one seat lost by the Tories on the 15th, Bloxwich West ward of Walsall M.B.C., was one of a trio of Labour gains.  They also took the Castle seat on Leicester City Council from the Greens and, disappointingly, the Riversway seat in Preston C.C. from our local Lib Dems.  In Wales, Llais Gwynedd, or Voice of Gwynedd for the Anglophones amongst us, held the Diffwys and Maenofferon seat on Gwynedd against a Plaid Cymru challenge, a contest in which there was no Liberal Democrat candidate.  

With a by-election clutch as dreary as the recent weather, we’ve saved the best ‘til last in the form of our successful defence of the Corfe Mullen South seat on East Dorset District Council.  Nestled in the Mid-Dorset and North Poole constituency of our own Annette Brooke, the ward itself has been a Lib Dem stronghold for the past seventeen years.  With weekly Focus and election literature, in addition to Definite and Probable-targeted letters, we capitalised on local issues of the day, particularly wheelie-bin allocations and a controversial nearby landfill site, to reinforce our message of community politics.  A legacy benefit of approximately 50% new canvass data across the ward and a smooth Postal Vote operation combined to defeat a negative Tory campaign and a lacklustre UKIP effort.  Congratulations to Councillor Philip Harknett, and our hard-working team in East Dorset.

Out in the towns, we had some good news in the form of a hold and a gain on Barnstaple Town Council, unfortunately counterbalanced by a pair of losses on Bradfield Parish Council in Sheffield.  We also lost a Town Councillor in Knaresborough, near Harrogate, to the Tories, making it a pretty torrid time for Liberal Democrats at all local government levels.  There are another nine principals up next week, of which we are defending three.  The best of luck to all our candidates and campaigners across the country.

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.