After an eventual slew of 26 by-election results on May 3rd, it was a relatively quiet day at the office for Lib Dem campaign teams across Britain. There were two principal council by-elections, and one reported town council contest, and very little of significance to report.

In the Kidsgrove ward of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Labour held their seat with a substantial 18% increase in their share of the vote. Our candidate came third, dropping just over 7%. Unfortunately the drop was enough to put the Tories into second place in a ward that we have held in recent years.

Whilst the 105 people who wanted to vote Liberal Democrat in Kidsgrove had the chance to do so, the same can’t be said for any of our supporters in the Chinnor ward of South Oxfordshire District Council, where the Tories, Independents, and Labour slugged it out between themselves. It’s hard to believe we don’t have a single member in all of South Oxfordshire who could have put their name forward, so getting a bird on the ballot next time would be much better. In the end, the Conservatives held comfortably.

Out in the towns, we had a contest for the Meeds North ward of Burgess Hill Town Council, where our candidate Kathleen Carman Willis took a respectable 19% of the vote – only four short of second place and thirty-four off a win. Onwards and upwards, Burgess Hill!

Finally, a quick note on ALDC’s online resources. Our ‘Time To Say Thank You’ guide is newly available on aldc.org (http://bit.ly/II3AVD), and there is a whole host of useful post-election discussion taking place on our new Facebook Group (http://on.fb.me/JHYOrh). Both are members-only, but for those of you who have not yet taken the plunge, this really is the time! You can find more details at aldc.org/join/.

The very best of luck to all of our councillors, candidates and campaigners out in the field.

Craig Whittall
craig.whittall@aldc.org

With all eyes on Thursday’s local elections (see our report on defence rates, over), it is easy to forget that there were thirteen local council by-elections taking place on the same day. 

The only significant result from a Lib Dem perspective is the successful defence of Hertfordshire’s Meriden Tudor ward, where Kareen Mary Hastrick added a little good news to what was another difficult night across the country. Of some national prominence was the Hackney Central by-election, where the ‘Hackney Heroine’ Pauline Pearce (pictured, second left) made the decision to stand for the Liberal Democrats in the wake of last year’s riots. Unfortunately, Pauline came third on the night but has been a welcome addition to our London campaign family, where we hope she will remain.

The last full week of campaigning in the 2012 local elections saw four by-elections reported to ALDC. 

In the sole principal council contest, our Focus team in North Norfolk did sterling work defending the Waterside ward. A 9% drop in the second-placed Tory vote was of some assistance, although surprisingly UKIP do not appear to have been the beneficiary of the decline in Conservative support. A relatively busy slate for a local by-election also included a Green Party and Independent candidate standing for the first times, without making any real headway. Labour’s 2% increase in vote-share is far from impressive and may also indicate a healthy retention of squeezed Labour voters in the Lib Dem tally. Our congratulations to successful candidate Paul Howard Williams and the North Norfolk team on an encouraging defence.

Out in the towns, our vote held up nicely in Seaford East ward of Seaford Town Council. Whilst the headline story is a UKIP gain from the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrat vote remained solid and keeps us within touching distance of the Tories in second place. The election was triggered by the resignation of a Conservative Town Councillor in protest against his own administration’s 9.5% hike in the town council precept – only one year after an express promise not to raise the tax. Our box count showed that Lib Dem support in our best areas stayed solid and, when combined with the new reality of a fairly even Con-UKIP split in the vote, enhances our prospects of holding our local county seat in 2013.

Liberal Democrat Dave Dobbie prevailed in a straight-up fight with UKIP to hold the North West ward of Gainsborough Town Council, and Sue Griffiths came within a whisker of supplanting Labour as the second party in the Peacehaven North ward of Peacehaven Town Council. Well done to both.

ALDC would like to wish all of our councillors and campaigners across the country the very best of luck in all elections. See you on the other side!

Craig Whittall
craig.whittall@aldc.org 

You could be forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu with this week’s by-elections, as two of them have had multiple by-elections in recent years.

The by-election in the Spitalfields and Banglatown Ward of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets took the political headlines following the defeat of Labour’s candidate by an Independent aligned to the directly-elected mayor, Lutfur Rahman. This was the second by-election in this ward in 18 months and a second defeat for Labour. The ward is now represented by one Labour councillor, one from Respect and now one Independent.

For Liberal Democrats the best result of the night was in the Plaistow Ward of Chichester District Council in West Sussex. This was the fifth by-election in this ward in nine years following successive resignations of Conservative councillors. Plaistow is a large rural ward – 19 miles from one end to the other – in the far north of the district on the Surrey border. However despite the scale of the job we ran a strong campaign with a number of leaflets very much focusing on the reasons for the by-election and the local credentials of our candidate. Polling day saw torrential downpours all day and so postal voters ended up making up a large percentage of the turnout in parts of the ward. As a result this group became incredibly important to the final result, which is a lesson to take back for those with elections on 3rd May. If you haven’t run a ‘get out the vote’ operation amongst your postal voters there is still time. Despite our efforts we ended up 47 votes from victory. Perhaps it will be 6th time lucky for our regular candidate Ray Cooper.

The Watlington by-election in Oxfordshire County Council (Henley Constituency) kept up the theme of large electoral divisions being around 12 miles from end to end. We managed a modest increase in our vote and a small swing from the Conservatives. There was also a by-election in the Goresbrook Ward of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

This is the last by-election column before the local elections on 3^rd May and so ALDC would like to wish the best of luck to all of our candidates. Like last year it’s going to be another hard fight, but those places who’ve been putting in the work are generally getting a good response. Don’t forget that ALDC is here to support you with artwork templates and best practice on our website, as well as advice articles online or by phone.

With only three weeks left until polling day, and possibly no more than six until the postal votes begin winging their way to voters, April 12th was a good day to get a shot-in-the-arm election win. With four by-elections over the course of the week, the Lib Dem defence up in Darlington leapt out as a prospect.

The circumstances surrounding the election in Hurworth ward were complex, Group Leader Martin Swainston was controversially disqualified for non-attendance due to a compelling family issue. Martin was re-selected to stand again, and began the campaign with visits to local town councils and an article in the first by-election Focus, to explain the circumstances of his disqualification and re-affirm his consistent work in the ward over the period. The campaign itself was based on Martin’s strong record of local action, capitalising on his excellent reputation in the ward and previous successes fighting against a controversial housing development (to be sited on a local flood plain) and saving the local Hurworth School (pictured) from merging with another to form an Academy. This track record, Martin’s work in the ward, and his forthright explanation and apology, generated a significant amount of local goodwill on the doorsteps.

The campaign itself took the form of five black-and-white A4 Focus leaflets, combined with a prodigious canvass schedule that saw 80% of the ward covered. Outreach to postal voters was mainly via the doorstep. The ward is Tory-facing and Labour’s marginal increase in vote (around 2%) indicates that some of the Labour vote has remained effectively squeezed. The Conservative campaign won few friends with a series of very personal attacks against Martin, and fell short of unseating this popular local councillor by 38 votes. A hearty ‘well done’ to Martin and the team.

Darlington also had a second by-election, this one a Labour defence in the Harrowgate Hill ward, which was lost to the Conservatives. Elsewhere, in the East Finchley ward of Barnet Borough, Labour put 24% on their previous vote-share to make an easy defence, and the Tories held Newark and Sherwood’s Lowdham ward, despite the Liberal Democrat candidate polling a substantial 34% of the vote on their first time out.

ALDC received no reports of non-Principal by-elections for the week, and would like to wish the best of luck to all of our candidates and campaigners across the country.

Craig Whittall
craig.whittall@aldc.org