There were five by-elections in principal authorities this week (Cornwall, Torridge, Barnsley and two in Cheshire West and Chester) and one deferred election in North Hertfordshire.
The Liberal Democrats jumped from fourth place to take a seat from the Tories in Illogan (Cornwall UA). David Ekinsmyth won 23.8% of the vote for the Liberal Democrats; an increase of 10.1%. The Tories slumped to third behind Mebyon Kernow with both parties receiving 18%. The UKIP vote fell by 9.1% to finish fourth (13.4%), Labour came fifth (11.1%), the Liberal Party in Cornwall came sixth (10.4%) and the Green Party finished last with 4.3%. The Liberal Democrat campaign was focused around campaigning against an unpopular building development, for increased road safety and traffic calming and to transfer the ownership of a local park to the Parish Council (something Cllr Ekinsmyth achieved during the election campaign). The Illogan team worked very hard with their PPC (Julia Goldsworthy) and knocked on most doors at least three times. There was also a strong and concerted literature campaign involving a tabloid, four FOCUS leaflets and target leaflets to different areas of the division. Cllr Ekinsmyth is Commodore of the ‘Blind at Sea Charity’ and is well known for his work as an Illogan parish councillor for the past 7 years. He puts his victory down to “action not words” and traditional Liberal Democrat campaigning focusing on local issues and the benefits of having a local candidate with a strong track record. The local team are thankful to the help they received from neighbouring parties across Cornwall. Voter ID and Polling Day were massively helped by using Connect and phone banks.
Labour held the three seats they were defending in Barnsley and Cheshire West and Chester. The Conservatives held on in Torridge and North Hertfordshire.
For all the detailed results see the ALDC elections page: https://www.aldc.org/category/by-election-results/