People Power!

This week's set of by-elections looked like a predictable bunch but they produced one of the shocks of the year. The Conservatives seemed quite safe in the Poole Town ward, Poole (Dorset) but they lost the seat to a local party – Poole People. The party was only formed a couple of months ago and had no representation on the Council before this by-election. In the other two results from Thursday were as expected; Labour held their seat in St Helens (Merseyside) and the Conservatives held a seat in Rugby BC (Warwickshire). Plaid Cymru also held a seat on Tuesday, which is covered here.

So we'll start with the sensational gain on the snowy south coast. The by-election for the Poole Town ward was called following the death of Conservative Councillor, and Leader of the Council, Brian Leverett. In 2007 the Tories managed a clean sweep of the three seats in this ward and so they were expected to hold this yesterday. However, the emergence of a new political party in the Town has shaken up politics in Poole. Poole People was only launched in October and their success is linked to anger over redevelopments in the town's quay area. They appear to have only one prospective politician at the moment; Mark Howell. He has now become their first elected representative after securing a third of the vote in this low turnout election to defeat the Conservatives by 24 votes. The Tories not only lost the seat but their vote share dropped by almost 16% on the 2007 election. They weren't alone though as UKIP's vote share collapsed to less than 5% from 14% three and half years ago. It would appear that although Poole People claim to be neither 'left nor right' they attract voters from the right leaning established parties. The Conservatives now have a majority of two to limp through to next May's full Council elections, which look set to be very competitive.

Poole Borough Council
CON		LD		IND			PP
22	-1	17	-	2		-	1		+1
Candidate					Votes			Vote %
Mark Howell (PP-E)					462			33%
Tony Reeves					438			31.2%
Peter England					214			15.3%
Jason Sanderson					201			14.3%
Avril King					55			3.9%
William Kimmet					32			2.3%

The other top-tier Council election on Thursday took place for the St Helens MBC. The by-election in the Haydock ward was been called following the death of Cllr. Jim Caunce, who was one of the longest serving Councillors in country. Despite this the seat isn't that safe, with the Liberal Democrats holding one of the seats in this ward; the one to be contested next May in fact. Labour did a lot better earlier in the year to defeat the sitting Lib Dem Councillor Eric Sheldon by a comfortable margin. Sheldon was attempting to win his seat back this week but Anthony Burns managed to increase Labour's majority from May. The result represented a 10.4% swing from this year's election and, perhaps more importantly, a 30.7% swing from 2007. The Liberal Democrats continue to struggle in urban seats as Labour look set to increase their majority in St Helens next year.

St Helens Council
LAB		LD				CON
28	-	15		-		5		-
Candidate			Votes		Vote %		+/-
Anthony Burns (E)			1234		62.7%		+11.2%
Eric Sheldon			540		27.4%		-9.6%
John Cunliffe			112		5.7%		-5.8%
James Winstanley			82		4.2%		+4.2%

Finally, the Conservatives held the sole District Council vacancy to be filled this week. The by-election for the Dunchurch & Kightlow ward was called following the resignation of the sitting Conservative Councillor for personal reasons. The Liberal Democrats required a 3% swing from May's result to gain the seat and they already held one of the three seats in this multi-member ward. As it was, the Tories held on with a slight swing towards them from this year's election. They will have an 8 seat majority until the next round of elections in five months.