Another Lib Dem Gain in a Lacklustre Week at the By Elections
Originally published by Nick Hollinghurst - promoting social democracy as a Liberal Democrat and working for a greener world!
Congratulations to Liberal Democrat Cllr Thomas Sheriff for his decisive win in a straight fight with the Conservatives in the Alston Moor Ward of Eden District Council in Cumbria.
The result was Liberal Democrats 54.6% and Conservatives 45.4% which represented a Lib Dem Gain from the Conservatives.
There were also four elections where for one reason or another the local Lib Dems were not able to field candidates. These were in Newcastle-under-Lyme where Labour were up, but UKIP significantly down; in Nottingham were the Tories only just held the seat against Labour; Cranmer Ward in Rushcliffe which the Tories held with Labour dropping; and Beaver Ward in Ashford which saw a (now) very rare UKIP gain.
East Brighton was a Labour hold. Lib Dems stood but lost a small amount of vote share while Labour held the seat with a greatly increased vote share at the expense of the Greens. In East Riding in S E Holderness Ward Lib Dems stood again. It was a Tory hold with UKIP significantly down once again and every other party was up.
This takes the tally since the May elections to the following very satisfactory outcome.
Liberal Democrats: 10 gains, no losses
Conservatives: 2 gains, 8 losses
Labour: 2 gains, 4 losses
UKIP: 2 gains, 3 losses
Greens: 1 gain, no losses