There were two principal council by-elections held on the 3rd December. The Lib Dems held one seat and Labour took a seat off the Tories. In the only Parish and Town council election result reported to ALDC the Tories took a seat from Labour.
In the Ormesby Ward of Redcar and Cleveland Unitary Authority we held the seat comfortably increasing our share of the vote in an already safe ward . The by-election was held due to the resignation of long serving Lib Dem Councillor Eric Empson and was the sixth in just over twelve months in Redcar constituency and our 4th win. The Lib Dems have taken three from Labour and held one. Labour have held two. It is important to out campaign your opposition however safe a ward may seem. In this case we did so by putting out five leaflets to Labour three and UKIP’s one and were the only party to target the postal vote. It also helps to have a strong candidate; its often tempting to try to save your best candidates for the target “gain” wards but local by-elections can be very intense and it is wise to select a strong candidate. Redcar and Cleveland did this by selecting well known bus campaigner Ann Wilson.
The composition of the Council is now:
Labour – 25
Liberal Democrats – 16
Conservative – 11
Independents supporting Labour – 4
Independents – 3
In Redcar constituency Liberal Democrats now hold 16 seats, to Labour’s 16 and th
e Tories 3.
In the Dane Valley Ward of Thanet council in Kent, the Tories dropped from first to third in one by-election. A fine example of how not to do it. Our campaign took us from not having a candidate to within 58 votes of winning our first councillor on Thanet District council.
We are now running at 17 net gains for the year to date in principal local by-elections.