There were six principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 27th October. There was one Labour hold, two Tory holds and one Lib Dem hold. There were two Labour gains from Tory. There were no parish or town council by-election results reported to ALDC.
In the Bude North and Stratton ward of Cornwall County Council we held our seat convincingly, but – because we were starting from such a high mark – we officially suffered a swing against us of 4.4%. This wasn’t due to the Tories (they lost vote share too) but because of additional candidates – in this case Labour and a local Independent. Our message was threefold, as ever:
1. The candidate: Although not a sitting councillor, our candidate David Parsons is “Mr Bude”. He has great ties to the town going back generations and has been very closely involved with local projects that mattered.
2. We attacked the Tories who run the council: for the cuts and for waste.
3. Our squeeze message was everywhere.
We did three full focuses, a set of target letters to definites and probables, a letter to postal voters, blue letters, good mornings and polling day literature. We also got useful information from 30% of the electors during the campaign and knocked on virtually every door.
The Tories did comparatively little and what they did appears to have been of pretty poor quality. With a better candidate than in 2009 they still went backwards. The Labour candidate was pretty much a one man band. Despite doing little (and our squeeze) he picked up just under 8% simply by being on the ballot paper.
We often have strong sitting councillors who are known for their work battling the administration and sticking up for their local area. But it’s no good doing the work unless people get to hear about it month in/month out through the press and through our leaflets. Seats are not going to be won by a single person working flat out any more.
Other elections:
Lancashire CC, WyresideNewcastle Under Lyme BC, Newchapel North Lanarkshire UA, Coatbridge North and Glenboig (ward 6)North Yorkshire CC, Thornton Dale and the Wolds Walsall MBC, Bloxwich East