It has been a busy week for by-elections with ten in principal authorities and one parish council by-election reported to ALDC.
The Liberal Democrats gained a seat from the Conservatives yesterday in Barnham Downs ward, Canterbury. Michael Sole was 52 votes ahead of his Conservative rival, taking 37.3%. It was a bad result for the Conservatives who lost 11.4% of the vote despite the Tory Council Leader living in the ward. UKIP took 18.15 to come third, Labour finished fourth with 78 votes and the Green party saw a 12% drop in the vote share taking last place. Cllr Sole is a local accountant who is well known to local residents having appeared in Kingsbourne Players’ pantomime during the campaign! He fought a campaign ensuring that rural wards in Canterbury are listened to by the City council particularly regarding litter, speed restrictions and recycling. Cllr Alex Perkins, Liberal Democrat leader in Canterbury is hopeful this result bodes well for local elections next year, said: “When you have a Council as universally unpopular as this one currently is, it’s hard to see how the Lib Dems couldn’t make a gain. In the last election, the Lib Dems lost lots of seats by a handful of votes, so I do expect us to make a big gain in a year’s time.”
In Shropshire Andrew Boddington stormed to victory in Ludlow North having missed out by just 85 votes last May. His vote share increased by 11.7% to take 45.3%. The Conservatives failed to defend the seat and slumped to second on 29.9%, an Independent came third on 17.4% and Labour also saw their vote share drop slightly finishing on 7.4%.
The winning team in Ludlow. Cllr Boddington is third from the right.
Judith Wheeler took 66% of the vote to retain a Liberal Democrat seat in Cobbs ward of Appleton Parish Council. Labour’s vote dropped by 1.7% to come second on 20.9%. The Conservatives came back of the pack with 13.2% (a drop of 8.7%).
No other seats changed hands this week. The Conservatives held seats in Hampshire, South Ketseven, East Hampshire and Runnymede. Labour held on in Knowlsey, Luton, Crewe and Amber Valley. UKIP came second in most of the by-elections they stood in taking around a quarter of the vote.
For all the detailed results see the ALDC elections page: https://www.aldc.org/category/by-election-results/