By-Election Results (17th March)

Due to work I won't be able to do the full commentary on the two interesting results until tomorrow evening, but hopefully this brief summary will keep you entertained until then.

The Liberal Democrats produced a surprise in Tunbridge Wells by gaining the Pembury ward from the Conservatives. The impressive UKIP performance hurt the Tories which may worry the blues ahead of May's local elections. Of course, the result could be down to a salient local issue and therefore shouldn't really be extrapolated…!

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
CON			LD
41	-1		7		+1
Pembury
		Votes		Vote %		+/-
Claire Brown (E)		578		43.6%		+3.0%
Robert Rutherford		450		34.0%		-25.5%
Victor Webb		297		22.4%		+22.4%

The other by-election last night also produced a gain as Labour took a seat in Paisley South, Renfrewshire from the Scottish Nationalists. They were just 27 votes short of winning the contest on first preferences alone but after the elimination of two candidates Roy Glen was declared the victor. Although winning party wasn't as surprising here as in the other by-election, Labour's margin of victory was a little larger than was perhaps expected. There were a few reasons why the 2007 result could have underestimated the SNP's support here and overestimated Labour's so the convincing win should please the reds. The Liberal Democrats had a much poorer result here compared to Kent as they dropped almost 10% from an already low starting position. The SNP/LD coalition in Renfrewshire looks shaky after the results as the two parties now hold exactly half the seats on the Council between them.

Renfrewshire Council
LAB		SNP			LD			CON
18	+1	16	-1		4		-	2		-
Paisley South
				Votes		Vote %			+/-
Roy Glen (E)				2081		49.4%			+17.8%
David McCartney				1366		32.4%			+3.9%
Alison Cook				388		9.2%			-3.4%
Gary Pearson				164		3.9%			-6.4%
Ross Stalker				134		3.2%			-3.8%
Jimmy Kerr				82		1.9%			-3.5%