There were three principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 8th March. Labour gained one seat from the Tories and held one seat. The Tories held one seat. There were no parish or town council by-elections results reported to ALDC.
Congratulations should go to our team in Kemsly ward of Swale borough council in Kent who managed to nearly double our vote. Even in situations where a win is unlikely plenty of useful work can be focussed around a by-election other than the duty to give the electorate a Liberal Democrat to vote for. A responsible local party should decide (quickly) at the first indication that a by-election may occur what its aims in the by – election will be. The default position should always be fighting to win, but there are other objectives:
Putting the party in a position to win the ward at a later date by:
• Running a campaign sufficient to get to second place
• Building a delivery network for the future
• Recruiting membership, as part of Tim Farron’s membership drive,
are perhaps the most obvious, but it could also be training objectives. For instance:
• practice using Connect in a live polling day situation is something many local parties (and neighbouring local parties) might find useful.
What is quite shocking is the number of times we still do not stand a candidate at all. Slough and Stafford should reflect on this. Sadly this is nothing new but it does not make it right.
With nominations already open in Scotland and only seven weeks to go to polling day, do let us know how the campaign is going in your council area. To let us know, please email John at the email address below.
Other elections