Council by-elections
Tonight's results, more of the recent pattern of poor Tory results except in West End Ward, Westminster, where turnout was just 12%:
Penrith West Ward, Eden DC. LD gain from Ind. LD 387 (51.7 %, +51.7), Con 157 (21.0 %, -17.5), BNP 102 (13.6 %, +13.6), Ind 58 (7.8%, -37.5), Lab 26 (3.5%, -12.7), Green 18 (2.4%, +2.4). Swing of 34.6% from Con to LD since 2007.
Grange Hill Ward, Epping Forest DC. Con hold. Con 454 (52.5%, -31), LD 411 (47.5%, +31). Swing of 31% from Con to LD since 2008.
March West Ward, Fenland DC. Con hold. Con 830 (53.9%, -5.2), Lab 460 (29.9%, +29.9), LD 250 (16.2%, -24.7). Swing of 17.6% from Con to Lab since 2007.
Pickering East Ward, Ryedale DC. Liberal Party gain from Lib Dem. Liberal 392 (42.8%), LD 274 (29.9%), Ind 213 (23.3%), Ind 37 (4%). The 2007 election was uncontested so no swing calculable. The Liberal Party (people who opposed the merger with the SDP to form the Lib Dems) already held the other seat in the ward and has 29 councillors around the country.
West End Ward, City of Westminster. Con hold. Con 526 (60.8%, +10.3), Lab 169 (19.5%, +0.6), LD 108 (12.5%, -1.2), Green 62 (7.2%, -6.3). Swing of 5.5% from Lab to Con since 2006.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 11:36 pm
8 Comments:
So that's 3 Conservative Holds and 1 Liberal Democrat Gain then.
And this is somehow good for Labour?
How exactly? LOL
12:22 am, October 09, 2009
I didn't say it was good for Labour. I'm very careful to try to report the weekly results objectively not spin them.
But in 3 of these wards there were very high swings against the Tories.
When Labour gets bad results I highlight it.
12:30 am, October 09, 2009
"When Labour gets bad results I highlight it."
Yeah!
Of course you do.
Funny you should mention "Spin"; as a Labour supporter.
Hmmm?
12:37 am, October 09, 2009
Leave him be.
Luke's spins are deconstructed by his loyal readers.
That internal narrative is always: We're fucked.
12:59 am, October 09, 2009
Er, I fought on the March West by-election campaign, and we got a 17.6% swing from Tory to Labour - hardly a shoddy result. See my blog post - http://adegeneratesemiintellectual.blogspot.com/2009/10/labour-confounds-expectations-in-march.html
2:08 am, October 09, 2009
On the March West result, I think a few things should be pointed out. The prediction on vote2007 was 5-9 per cent for Labour, and in the June 2009 County Council on roughly the same area Labour bagged 9 per cent. It's a semi rural three member ward usually - and no walk in the park to campaign in, trust me, I canvassed March West in 1997 and it was very bad for us.
As someone who knows the candidate for Labour, Martin Field, and is a local party member, can I say that Martin and Peter Roberts (the PPC) pulled out of the bag a big slap in the face for the Lib Dems - who claimed to be only ones who could beat the Tories in March West (as ever). The Libs actually just split the vote, and if UKIP were in it it could have been very, very interesting, the Tories around Fenland have been losing vote like nowhere else to UKIP. But most likely not enough even if they did stand.
I'm too ill now to help out but the candidate & PPC knocked on my door twice, delivered four leaflets, one targetted direct mail and an eve of poll to my house alone - they also got good press on the by-election and demanded a local husting meeting that the Tory candidate backed out of. Astonishingly hard fought for this part of Britain and a ward that's as blue as they come. I'm glad, (having stayed up to see the result on the net!), they saw such a great swing. Martin Field was by far the best candidate and would be a councillor now if it was most other areas, he teaches at our only comprehensive school in March (Neale Wade) and is a real environmentalist, a true gent and has done loads for March people. Peter Roberts has also won alot of friends for another by-election well fought in a Council run 39 Tory to 1 indie, until he was around we never even contest by-elections and in the 2007 district council didn't stand enough candidates, so the Tories won control before a single vote was cast - since then the PPC has given the CLP some focus to always stand and always fight well funded campaigns, no matter where, no matter what. I just hope we can build on this before the Peter leaves for a better area post-election, the CLP need him - while Martin would be wise to shift focus to a better ward in March, I feel a bit sad for him tonight he would have done an amazing job, Fenland politics is tough though.
2:47 am, October 09, 2009
Well done on the campaign, guys - if Labour activists are motivated enough to fight this hard in by-elections we have basically no chance of winning, it should bode well for activism levels in Labour and close marginal seats across the country.
3:51 pm, October 09, 2009
Spin is your middle name
7:51 pm, October 09, 2009
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