Barnsley Central by-election next time try harder

@DuncanStott of Split Horizons blog, tweeted this today 'During the Oldham East + Saddleworth by-election, I got 13 emails from Lib Dem HQ asking for help. For Barnsley Central I got 0.'

 

I know we didn't have a cat in hells chance of winning this safe Labour seat, but why didn't we try a bit harder. The turnout was low (36.5%, compared with 56.4% at the last general election) so if we could of got a few more of our voters out and persuaded others to vote for us then perhaps we would of had 500 extra votes. That 500 would of got the Liberal Democrats 4th place. Still a bad result but this would of resulted in better headlines.

 

Next time even know we can't win we should try harder. Perhaps then we could of avoided today's negative press for our poor result.

 

Dan Jarvis (Lab) 14,724

Jane Collins (UKIP) 2,953

James Hockney (C) 1,999

Enis Dalton (BNP) 1,463

Tony Devoy (Ind) 1,266

Dominic Carman (LD) 1,012

Kevin Riddiough (Eng Dem) 544

Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 198

Michael Val Davies (Ind) 60

Old Bracknell by-election result a Labour win by just 10 votes

We I lost but that was too be expected as this is very much a Labour/Tory seat.

Roy John Bailey of the Labour party won by just 10 votes. congratulations to Roy and commiserations to Frances Moody. Both candidates campaigned hard and would of both of been worthy winners.

The Green party candidate Adrian Michael Haffegee was also very impressive. I wish all council elections was full of this quality of candidate.

The results are;

Labour 380
Tory 370
Lib Dems 107
Greens 49

Turnout was 22.4%

This is just a quite post so I would add that the Lib Dem vote increases from 9% to 12% (rounded). As you can see voting can be close and your vote can make a difference.

I am standing in a by election for Old Bracknell

A by-election in the Old Bracknell ward for the Town Council has been called due to the sad death of Lady Barbara Smith.

The candidates standing are;

Roy John Bailey for the Labour Party
Adrian Michael Haffegee for the Green Party
Frances Moody for the Conservative Party
Darren Antony Bridgman for the Liberal Democrats

This means that I am standing in this ward for the Lib Dems. I will be following in the current tradition of Lib Dem Bloggers standing in local elections like the Norfolk Blogger and Mark Reckons.

Wish me luck as I am really up against it to win this election. the results in 2007 were;

Michael Beadsley Labour 698 20% Elected
Maureen Beadsley Labour 696 20% Elected
Barbara Smith Conservative 635 18% Elected
Enid Rose Leake Conservative 616 17% Not elected
Margaret Loneragan Labour 553 16% Not elected
Lesley Marion Tooze Liberal Democrat 325 9% Not elected

I will be publishing the details I have written for the leaflet which explains why I am standing.

The by-election will take place on the 25th of March. More details to follow.

I'm now of for a run around the ward, its not quite a Rory Stewart epic walk but its a start.

PS my apologies to Adrian M Haffegee whose name I misspelt in my haste to get this blog up and my thanks to Adrian for contacting me.

Owlsmoor - second in both Town and Borough by-elections

The result was announced last night of the Owlsmoor by-elections. I didn't win either of them, instead the Conservatives retained both seats. We did however come second.

Now that we have had the result, I will blog more fully about my experiences in my first campaign to run for elected office soon but in the meantime here are the results:

Owlsmoor (Sandhurst Town Council):

Peter Martin FORBES (Green Party): 50

Guy Alexander GILLBE (Labour): 124

Ian James SIMMONS (UKIP): 112

Mark James THOMPSON (Liberal Democrats): 201

Philip WALLINGTON (Conservative Party): 453

Owlsmoor (Bracknell Forest Borough Council):

Norman William BOWERS (Conservative Party): 508

Peter Martin FORBES (Green Party): 66

Guy Alexander GILLBE (Labour): 126

Mark James THOMPSON (Liberal Democrats): 238

Congratulations to Philip Wallington and Norman Bowers.

This post is cross-posted from Mark Reckons.

Election day in Owlsmoor

So my first election day as a candidate has dawned. The polls opened in Owlsmoor at 7:00am this morning.

I was canvassing up until last night and delivering "good morning" leaflets first thing this morning. I am Telling at the polling station later on and then will be going to the count this evening.

I had a nice experience just as I was finishing the leaflet delivery this morning. As I was going back to my car, I bumped into a chap who I had chatted to on the doorstep a couple of nights ago. He has given me a bit of a grilling previously (in a friendly way!) and he had told me that it was between me and the Conservatives for his vote. Well it looks like I persuaded him because this morning he told me that he was just coming back from the polling station and that he had "given me my chance"! Gave me a bit of a boost to start election day off with!

Hopefully the weather will stay nice and we will have a reasonable turnout.

I will post the results here when I know them.

This post is cross-posted from Mark Reckons.

By-Election In Owlsmoor Includes Mark Reckons

A Borough Council By-Elections in the Ward of Olwsmoor will be held at the Owlsmoor Community Centre from 7am to 10pm at Yeovil Road on 25th February. This by-election has be called because of the the sad death of Councillor Ray Simonds.

The candidates standing in for the position of Borough Councillor are;

Norman William Bowers - Conservative
Peter Martin Forbes - Green Party
Guy Alexandar Gillbe - Labour Party
Mark James Thompson - Liberal Democrats

And this election also includes Town Councillor;

Wallington Philip - Conservative
Peter Martin Forbes - Green Party
Guy Alexandar Gillbe - Labour Party
Ian James Simmons - UK Independence Party
Mark James Thompson - Liberal Democrats


I find it odd that UKIP are only contesting the town council, did they fill in the wrong form? Why not both seats?

Interestingly both the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party did not contest this seat in May 2007 only one UKIP and one Independent stood (in a seat which requires two councillors). To find results for the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party you have to go back to May 2003 when the Liberal Democrats received 2% more votes than the Labour Party and each Conservative received 32% of the vote.

Results for both years are as follows;

May 2007
David James Worrall
- Conservative 754 37% Elected
Raymond Simonds - Conservative 716 35% Elected
David William Vousden - Independent 347 17% Not elected
George William Barrand - UK Independence 245 12% Not elected

May 2003
David James Worrall - Conservative 582 32% Elected
Richard Hugh Thomas - Conservative 580 32% Elected
David Mohammed - Liberal Democrat 348 19% Not elected
Brian David Wilson - Labour 309 17% Not elected

Of added interest in this local election is that top Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson (see Mark Reckons) is standing in this election. So expect some extra insight and blogs from Mark on running for a borough Council election. It will also be worth seeing if a national blogger effects a local election. This is not the first time a top political blogger has been a candidate in Bracknell, Iain Dale came 3rd in the Conservative PPC Primary, which was won by Phillip Lee.

So all that remains to be said is good luck too all the candidates. I also think its a good and brave thing to put yourself up for election, to represent the local people on the council and indeed to be involved in local democracy.

Another win in the Tory Republic of Bracknell

Results of the Hanworth and Birch Hill Borough Councillor By-election are;

Mark Phillips of the Conservatives 640 42.41%

Janet Keene of the Labour Party 377 24.98%

Larraine de Laune of the Liberal Democrats 206 13.65%

Jeff Newbold of the of the UK Independence Party 139 9.21%

Steven Martin Gabb of the Green Party 77 5.10%

David Anthony Penson of the British National Party 70 4.64%

Total Votes 1509 which is a turn out of 23.4%


Results of the Town Councillor are;

Mark Phillips of the Conservatives 421 48.17%

Janet Keene of the Labour Party 259 29.63%

Larraine de Laune of the Liberal Democrats 131 14.99%

Brown Mark Daniel of the Green Party 63 7.21%

Firstly well done to Mark Phillips.

For comparison the May 2007 Hanworth Election result which did not have the Liberal Democrats, UKIP for the BNP standing was;

Chas Baily Conservative 1296 22.73% Elected

Alan Sydney Browne Conservative 1198 21.01% Elected

Gill Birch Conservative 1177 20.65% Elected

Marian Bayle Labour 616 10.81%

Alec Keene Labour 615 10.79%

Graham Edward Stuart Vertigen Labour 423 7.42%

David Henry Young Green 376 6.60%

5701 votes on a turn out of 33%

Which means the Conservative got 64% of the vote n 2007 and only 48% today. So some conservatives have voted for other parties. Also Labour had 29% of the vote in 2007 down to 25%. This Borough was last held by 3 Labour Councillors in 1997 with 51% of the vote, the Tories then had 42% of the vote and the Lib Dems only had 7%.

Now people of Bracknell I ask you this. If you have a party with a massive majority and you have a By-election and a new candidate with no track record in your borough, then why did you vote for another Tory? Here you have a chance for a fresh start, take it.

For the sake of democracy in the Tory Republic of Bracknell vote for someone else do you really want to live in a Bracknell one Party state. Don’t worry the Tories will still run the council, but please we must have some other parties on the council. Just like this tired government we need a change in Bracknell council or at least a decent opposition. Next time there’s a by-election please think on this and vote for the other side.

If you dont vote, why? the councillor spend your money. This person also represents you and you have a chance to vote for one. You say nothing will change, well it wont if you dont vote, All the candidates are different and so are the partys. VOTE!

One other point to note is that the Tories had the added bonus of an Open Primary with the candidates also being able to provide extra door knocking power, which is fair enough but just bad timing for the other parties.

Hanworth and Birch Hill Borough Councillor By-election Reminder

The By-Election in Handworth is tomorrow. I have been doing a bit of door knocking myself this week in Hanworth and Birth Hill. I think its going to be a very interesting election result. There has been very varied opinion on the door step I can't list them here. I would like to thank the people of Hanworth and Birth Hill for their politeness and for listening.

I will report on the result tomorrow evening;

Details of the candidates are;

Mark Phillips of the Conservatives

Larraine de Laune of the Liberal Democrats

Janet Keene of the Labour Party

Steven Martin Gabb of the Green Party

Jeff Newbold of the of the UK Independence

David Anthony Penson of the British National Party

Please do express your democratic right and vote for your preferred candidate.

Hanworth and Birch Hill Borough Councillor By-election

There has been so much news about the open primary for the Conservative PPC its worth reminding the good people of the Bracknell Forest ward of Hanworth (which includes Hanworth and Birch Hill ) that they will have an election for a local Borough Councillor following the sad death of Councillor Alan Browne. The candidates are;

Mark Phillips of the Conservative

Larraine de Laune of the Liberal Democrats

Janet Keene of the Labour Party

Steven Martin Gabb of the Green Party

Jeff Newbold of the of the UK Independence

David Anthony Penson British National Party


The election will be held on Thursday 15th October 2009.

Please do express your democratic right and vote for your preferred candidate.

For those voters living in the Hanworth and not the Birch Hill area of Bracknell then you will also beable to vote for a town councillor.

What do we want? A By-election! When do we want it? Now!

Mr Andrew Mackay MP has decided to step down at the next general election. His decision came soon after the meeting with his constituents. After the meeting he still claimed that most constituents supported him on the night. The mood of the meeting was infact very angry and tense.

After this event, does this really mean that Mr Mackay can operate fully as a representative of Bracknell Constituents until the general election? Is this also in the best interest of the Conservative Party?

Without continuing support of both colleagues and constituents it will surely be hard for Mr Mackay to perform his parliamentary duties effectively. Surely a by-election would now offer a way of ensuring that the interests of the constituency will be properly represented.
Electors should be allowed to express their views through a by-election. This should be held as soon as possible.