There was one hold, one gain, one loss and two near misses for the Liberal Democrats in last week’s exciting set of principal council by-elections. Jean Davis polled 33.5% of first preference votes in Aird & Loch Ness division in the Highlands (UA) to secure an impressive gain for the Liberal Democrats from the SNP. Victory was secured after the fourth round, with the party increasing it’s share of the first preferences by 17.4% from three years ago.
In Woking (BC), there was mixed news for Liberal Democrats as the party managed to hold onto it’s seat in Goldsworth East with a 32 vote majority. However, despite Lib Dem candidate Tina Liddington holding up the party’s vote share from 2014, the Conservatives benefited from a decreased share from UKIP to prevail by just 18 votes.
More positive news came out of South Oxfordshire (DC) and South Hams (DC), with Liberal Democrat candidates Simon Thompson and John Birch securing vote share increases of 16.4% and 12.6% from this May’s local elections in coming agonisingly close to making gains. Simon fell just 41 votes short of the Conservatives in Sandford & the Whittenhams ward, with John a mere 12 votes adrift of the Greens.
Elsewhere, Labour held seats in Bolsover (DC) and Cardiff (UA) with 42.5% and 45.9% of the vote respectively, with Gwilym Owen polling 3.6% for the Lib Dems in the latter contest. In the West Side & Ness by-election in the Western Isles, a no description candidate polled an impressive 86.9% to win a seat vacated by an Independent.
In addition, the Conservatives held their seat in Deganwy ward on Conwy Town Council, with Katherine Lewis polling 14.5% for the Lib Dems.
This week will see three principal council by-elections taking place. Benjamin Maitland and John Freeman will be the Liberal Democrat candidates in contests in Southwark (LB) and Cambridgeshire (CC), with Neville Farmer also standing in Corsham Pickwick ward in Corsham (TC). No Lib Dem candidate will be fielded in Howgate dvision in Cumbria (CC).
For more information on the results from last week please click here. If you would like more information on all the forthcoming by-elections and details on who to contact for help, click here.
Mike Lushington says
Many thanks your emails. It very much helps in keeping oldies like me in touch.
Please keep up the good work. I really think there will be an upsurge in popularity of the Lib Dems