Simon Shaw: Two Gains from Labour on Merseyside

Simon Shaw is a Lib Dem activist in Southport and is a councillor for Birkdale Ward on Sefton MBC. Here, he shares Thursday’s great news from Maghull Town Council.

Winning a council seat in Merseyside off Labour would be a significant achievement.  Winning two on the same day would be virtually unheard of.

Yesterday, in Maghull, Sefton MBC, Merseyside, Lib Dems won two seats off Labour and came within 9 votes of winning a third.  The by-elections concerned took place in three adjacent seats on Maghull Town Council.

Maghull Town Council, 8 miles to the North West of Liverpool City Centre, is the largest civil parish in the country and levies a Band D council tax precept of nearly £90.

Labour Town councillors in three adjacent wards, Maghull North, Maghull East and Maghull South resigned in June.  North and East wards, each with electorates of around 5000, together combine to form the Sefton MBC ward of Sudell which Labour won in May 2012 by a 59% to 23% margin over the Lib Dems,

Yesterday Lib Dems notionally gained Sudell Ward with 49% of the vote against 44% for Labour, a swing of 20.3% from Labour to Lib Dems since the last Sefton Borough elections in 2012.

In terms of the three individual Maghull Town Council wards, as compared to the last town council elections in 2011, swings of 10.5% from Labour to Lib Dems were achieved in North and East Wards, and a swing of 9% in South Ward.

The full results were:

Maghull North Ward

Jen Robertson (Lib Dem) 546 52.0% (+22.3%)

Labour 504 48.0% (+1.5%)

Lib Dem GAIN from Labour

Maghull East Ward

Bruce Hubbard (Lib Dem) 621 46.2% (+14.3%)

Labour 557 41.5% (-6.8%)

UKIP 165 12.3% (-)

Lib Dem GAIN from Labour

Maghull South Ward

Labour 180 42.4% (-12.2%)

Geoff Howe (Lib Dem) 171 40.2% (+6.1%)

UKIP 74 17.4% (-)

Labour HOLD

A fantastic effort by the Lib Dem team in Maghull, supported by colleagues in Southport, the rest of Sefton and Liverpool.