Council by-election

There was one by-election yesterday:

Aspatria and Wharrels Division, Cumbria CC.  Con hold. Con 625 (34.7%, -22.1), Lab 520 (28.9%, +4.1), Ind 390 (21.7%, +21.7), LD 206 (11.5%, -6.9), Green 58 (3.2%, +3.2). Swing of 13.1% from Con to Lab since 2009.

Progress column

My Progress column this week was about how we maximise Labour gains in the May 2013 elections:

http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/05/23/making-no-%e2%80%98no-go-areas%e2%80%99-a-reality/

Labourlist column

My Labourlist column this week sets out my organisational priorities for Labour:

http://labourlist.org/2012/05/what-should-labours-organisational-priorities-be/

Columns

My columns this week both looked at the council election results:

http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/05/09/the-results-list/

http://labourlist.org/2012/05/election-scorecard-2012/

Council by-elections

There were two by-elections last night and a delayed poll in Scotland (held back from last week):

Chinnor Ward, South Oxfordshire DC. Con hold. Con 591 (48.3%, -1.4), Ind 449 (36.7%, +1.8), Lab 184 (15%, -0.4). Swing of 1.6% from Con to Ind since 2011.

Kidsgrove Ward, Newcastle-under-Lyme DC. Lab 639 (68.1%, +1.8), Con 121 (12.9%, +0.3), LD 105 (11.2%, -0.9), TUSC 73 (7.8%, -1.2). Swing of 0.8% from Con to Lab since last week!

Dunoon Ward, Argyll & Bute. 1 SNP and 2 Ind cllrs elected (as in 2007).

Ken vs Boris - what went wrong

My Labourlist column:

http://labourlist.org/2012/05/the-irresistible-fall-of-ken-livingstone/

Last week's columns

I've been a bit snowed under due to the election campaign and moving house (back to the flat we lived in before I got ill in 2009 - for the last 3 years we had to rent somewhere else as my mobility problems meant I couldn't use our flat as it has stairs).

My columns last week were about the London Mayoral election: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/04/27/no-illusions%E2%80%99/ and the overall political situation: http://labourlist.org/2012/04/every-government-has-bad-times-but-this-feels-worse/