There were seven principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 15th March. The Lib Dems held one seat. Labour gained two seats from the Tories. The Tories held three seats and took one off the Greens. There were no parish or town council by-election result reported to ALDC.
If you have one of your sitting councillors disqualified for non-attendance – not something that should ever happen to a Lib Dem – then the only decent thing to do is to hold the subsequent by-election. In the Porchester East Ward in Fareham Borough council in Hampshire we had a good majority to defend but the Tories scented blood. They mobilised teams from far and wide using their 25 local councillors and 2 local MP’s to the full. The Tories threw the kitchen sink at the campaign and still lost.
In Broxtowe District council in Nottinghamshire, the 2011elections left the balance of the Council as 17 Labour, 9 Lib Dem and 18 Conservatives. Following discussions, a joint administration between the Lib Dems and Labour was agreed. Fighting by-elections whilst running the council is always hard work, but simultaneous by-elections for the County division and Borough ward in Toton and Chilwell gave us a crack at the Tories in an area we had long coveted.
Labour failed mysteriously to stand a candidate for the County division, but in both we fought a strong campaign with plenty of canvassing on foot and phone to deliver two encouraging results. With county elections in 2013 we have built infrastructure and positioning for future success.
Nominations Deadline
Nominations opened yesterday 22nd March in Scotland for the local elections on May 3rd and will close on Thursday 29th March at 4pm. In England and Wales nominations will close at noon on Wednesday 4th April. Don’t be an April Fool, if you leave it too late then there won’t be time to fix any mistakes and you won’t be able to stand. Comprehensive guidance forms and instruction can be found on the ALDC website.
Please remember to tell us who your target candidates are so that we can add them to our free support service.
Other results:
Braintree DC, Great Notley and Braintree WestBraintree DC, Braintree EastBraintree DC, Braintree SouthScarborough BC, Hertford