A Good Night for the Tories as they hold two District Seats

The Conservatives will be pleased to have held onto both District Council vacancies they were defending last night, especially their seat in Broxtowe. The Cossall & Kimberly ward returned a Councillor from each of the three main parties in 2007, with the Tories coming in third place. This successful defence will be a welcome boost for local Conservatives preparing for next year's full Council elections.

The by-election for the Broxtowe District Council (Nottinghamshire) was called because the Conservative Cllr. Tony Rutherford was disqualified for poor attendance. His absence was a forced one, due to Alzheimer's, but this doesn't appear to have stopped opposition parties from trying to exploit the circumstances of the vacancy. On Wednesday I mentioned the bad spirit in which the seat was being contested, and it would seem the Liberal Democrats in the East Midlands have won themselves few friends during the course of this campaign. As it was, the Conservatives managed to hold the seat by just 26 votes from Labour, with the Lib Dems a distant third. The small margin of victory won't bother the Tories, who must have been worried about losing the seat to a resurgent Labour Party. The Council is finely balanced for what will sure to be a bitterly fought full election next May.

In the other District Council by-election last night the Conservatives easily saw off their challengers in the Christchurch Cockermouth Ward for the Allerdale Borough Council (Cumbria). The poll was triggered because the previous Tory Councillor was forced to move away from the area after the floods last winter. Although he was eventually disqualified for non-attendance this didn't seem to harm his party's chances, although the fact this is a safe ward probably helped. In 2007 Labour were the only other party to stand and they did not provide a candidate for this week's election. Instead it was the Liberal Democrats and the Greens who provided the voters with some choice, but the Tories secrured almost two-thirds of the votes cast to easily hold the seat. The result doesn't give much indication of what will happen in next May's full Council election as Labour and the Conservatives are the two parties battling for control of Allerdale.

There were also three Town Council elections taking place last night. The Conservatives held West Ward, Marlborough TC, the Liberal Democrats held North Ward, Seaford TC and the Residents Association Councillor for Chase on the Marvern Hills TC was replaced by another with no political affiliation.