There were two principal by-elections yesterday. In Birstall Wanlip ward of Charnwood Borough Council, Simon Sansome won a sensational victory for the Liberal Democrats coming from third place. On his second attempt Simon took 15% of the defending Conservative’s vote and achieved a 7% majority. The Labour vote remained stable at 27%. The local team put their victory down to running a campaign focused on local issues. They knocked on 2000 doors and put out 15,000 pieces of literature (including a very effective handwritten letter) highlighting their campaigns for a new school and community centre, to improve the park and ride scheme to nearby Leicester and to protect the character of Birstall.
In Cardiff, Labour held Canton ward despite a strong showing from Plaid. The ward has only ever had Labour councillors since Cardiff became a unitary authority. Despite this the nationalist candidate was just 229 votes away from the winning line and saw a 14% boost in their vote share. The Conservatives came third on 13% and the Greens fourth on 5% having lost 10% of their vote share. Matt Hemsley for the Liberal Democrats and the TUSC candidate both achieved around 3% of the vote.
Town Councils: Tony Gubb got a respectable 21% in a Ware Town Council by-election and was just 70 votes behind the Conservative candidate who successfully retained the seat, and the Tories took a seat from Independent in Amble.