There were four principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 10th November. There was a Lib Dem gain from the Tories, two Labour holds and a Labour gain from Respect. There were no parish or town council by-election results reported to ALDC. In Ipswich we took revenge on the Tories for losses last May. St Margaret’s ward was first won in 1994 but we started to take control in 1999 and have had all three councillors for the ward from then onwards. In May our elderly sitting councillor stood down for Cathy French to pick up the baton. Along with many others across the country she lost in May. The Tory victor, perhaps not expecting her success, resigned after four months citing lack of support from her Tory colleagues.
We pulled together with support from across Suffolk, pounded the streets, used a bolder Focus style and phoned knock up over 800 households on the day. The Tories fought hard but this was the sixth defeat for their candidate. This leaves the overall political balance of the 48-member Ipswich Council as Labour 28, Conservatives 15 and Liberal Democrats 5.
In the St Marys Ward in Islington we threw the kitchen sink at the election. We pulled a huge amount of support and effort in from all across London and failed to get the turnaround in support that we had hoped. This was partly because of the number of Labour activists that hit the street and partly because of their negative scaremongering. We had much to be proud of including delivering target mail to the 1000 plus new voters that were added to the register on the Friday before polling day.
It’s clear that the Tories are again vulnerable and Labour, fighting dirty are a tougher prospect and we may need to develop new techniques and approaches over the coming months to deal with them.
Other principal elections:
Redbridge LBC, AldboroughBirmingham City Council, Sparkbrook