Another quiet day at the polls on Thursday, with just one principal council contest and one town council election reported to ALDC.
The Aspatria and Wharrels division of Cumbria County Council straddles part of the northern border of the Lake District, reaching from just north of Keswick and out to the town of Aspatria. The division sits inside Allerdale District Council, not exactly a Lib Dem stronghold, but our campaign team on the ground worked hard in promoting the election and asking for help. The campaign team itself topped out at 22, which was a huge improvement on the usual number of boots on the ground. With eyes on the county elections next year, helpers from Carlisle and Penrith were among those who joined the fray.
Whilst Labour were not expected to do very much in an area that doesn’t usually yield dividends, their doorstep presence and now-habitual national focus and Nick Clegg attack pieces did gain traction, with Labour running the Tories to an uncomfortably close victory margin of just over 100 votes. A well-known Independent, who is a district councillor for Aspatria and makes effective use of his email lists for electronic campaigning, placed third. Taking one fifth of the vote on his first time out in the division looks like a neat combination of a precipitous Tory decline, a personal vote in Aspatria, low turnout in our stronger areas, and the ‘none of the above’ protest vote that used to break our way on occasions like these.
The Lib Dem campaign itself included two Focus editions, a black-and-white A3 and full-colour A4, alongside an Eve of Poll, Good Morning, and Calling Cards for the knock-up. Telling cover was organised for polling stations that we hoped to do well in, but the resulting box counts showed a fairly even spread of below-expectation results. The positives of the campaign included a host of new volunteers and a healthy chunk of new canvass data to take into the county elections next year. Well done to Phill Roberts and his team, and commiserations on a result that bears no resemblance to the time and effort invested in the campaign.
Out in the towns, we were very happy to see local Lib Dem Ruth Juett see the Tories off in the Townsend ward of Chesham Town Council.
With five principal council by-elections in the next week, we should have much more to report on. For now, ALDC would like to wish the very best of luck to all of our councillors, candidates and campaigners out in the field.
Craig Whittallcraig.whittall@aldc.org