With five by-elections taking place today this is the last busy week for a while. There are some interesting contests among them as in addition to an unpredictable division in Derbyshire, where a long standing Independent Councillor has sadly died, all three main parties are defending seats across England. The Conservatives will again be in the thick of it this week as they are defending a tight ward in Wakefield from Labour and hoping to take a seat in Dorset from the Liberal Democrats. They are also defending a safe ward in Staffordshire whilst Labour are doing likewise in Southwark.
I'll start in Derbyshire where the death of Independent County Councillor Bill Camm has left an intriguing battle for his replacement in the Sawley division. Camm was a Councillor for over 50 years, initially winning his seat as a Labour candidate but quit the party over a local issue. As an Independent Camm easily held both his County and District Council seats election after election so who is best placed to win this by-election isn't obvious.
In 2009 the Conservatives came second behind Camm in the full Council elections so they will see themselves as favourites but they were third behind Labour in 2005 on the General Election turnout. A better guide would be the multi-member Erewash BC wards (Sawley and Wilsthorpe) which make up the Sawley County division but the picture their is mixed as well. In 2007 Camm was elected with two Liberal Democrats in the Sawley ward whilst the Conservatives dominated in Wilsthorpe. However, not only did the two Lib Dems fail to win re-election last month they actually dropped behind all three Labour and Conservative candidates to come 7th and 8th respectively. The Tories won five out of the six seats across the two wards but Labour were not far behind, claiming one in Sawley (Camm was too unwell to contest his District seat).
In addition to all this both Labour and the Conservatives have selected strong candidates to contest this by-election. The Tories have picked their leader on Erewash Borough Council Chris Corbett, who is also a District Councillor for the Wilsthorpe ward, whilst the Labour candidate Cheryl Pidgeon stood for her party at the General Election last year.
Labour have managed bigger swings in other wards contested this year than the one they effectively require in this by-election and they have added incentive to win this seat. The Conservatives currently hold 33 of the 64 seats on Derbyshire County Council but if Labour win today then they will cut the Tory majority to just two with the next full elections not due until 2013.
Derbyshire County Council | ||||
CON | LAB | LD | VAC | |
33 | 22 | 8 | 1 | |
Sawley | ||||
By-Election Candidate | 2009 | |||
N/C (Ind) | 54.4% | |||
Chris Corbett (Con) | 24.1% | |||
Cheryl Pidgeon (Lab) | 10.8% | |||
Fiona Aanonson (LD) | 10.7% | |||
Following their gain in Torbay a couple of weeks ago the Liberal Democrats will be hoping for another successful by-election in the South West when they defend the Lychett Matravers, Purbeck DC (Dorset). The vacancy was caused by the resignation of Cllr. Mark Gracey, who felt the stress of being a Councillor was detrimental to his personal life. He won his seat last year by 118 votes in a straight fight with the Conservatives and previous elections in this ward have been close between the two parties.
The by-election is important to the political balance in Purbeck as although the Tories hold more seats the Liberal Democrats control the Council as a minority administration. If the Conservatives win here tonight they will hold half the seats, which would make life interesting with 10 months left until partial elections take place.
Purbeck District Council | |||||
Con | LD | Ind | Vac | ||
11 | 10 | 2 | 1 | ||
Lytchett Matravers | |||||
By-Election Candidate | 2010 | 2008 | |||
John Taylor (LD) | 52.6% | 50.2% | |||
Peter Webb (Con) | 47.4% | 46.6% | |||
N/C (Lab) | - | 3.2% | |||
Having won a seat in Horbury & South Ossett, Wakefield MBC last month Labour will have high hopes of a gaining another from the Conservatives in today's by-election. It is taking place following the resignation of Tory Councillor Elizabeth Hick because of ill health. Her victory margin last year was just 102 votes last year and Labour comfortably won the ward in this May's round of elections.
To make matters worse for the Tories, Labour have selected former Councillor for this ward, and wife of their winning candidate last month, Janet Holmes. She represented Horbury & South Osset up until 2008 when she lost out to the Conservatives but seems likely to return to the Council after three years. Interestingly the Horbury Independent candidate Norman Tate is displaying an endorsement from the former Independent MP Martin Bell on his garish website. As far as I can tell Tate will struggle to make an impact on this by-election.
A gain for Labour would add to their already large majority in Wakefield.
Horbury & South Ossett (Wakefield) | |||
By-Election Candidate | 2011 | 2010 | 2008 |
Janet Holmes (Lab) | 49.1% | 36.5% | 36.0% |
Richard Wakefield (Con) | 41.3% | 37.7% | 40.1% |
Mark Goodair (LD) | 9.5% | 18.9% | 11.3% |
N/C (Ind) | - | - | 12.5% |
N/C (BNP) | - | 6.9% | - |
David Dews (UKIP) | - | - | - |
Norman Tate (Ind) | - | - | - |
The other two by-elections taking place today are in safe wards. Labour are defending Peckham, Southwark LBC following the death of Cllr. Tayo Situ. He was the second of three Labour candidates to easily win election last May and they are unlikely to be troubled in this by-election. Labour do not have a very big majority in Southwark so they can ill afford a surprise defeat in this by-election.
Southwark Council | |||||
Lab | LD | Con | Ind | Vac | |
33 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
Peckham | |||||
By-Election Candidate | 2010 | ||||
Chris Brown (Lab) | 62.4% | ||||
Jennifer Blake (LD) | 17.8% | ||||
Diana Atuona (Con) | 8.5% | ||||
Jason Evers (Grn) | 6.1% | ||||
N/C (Ind) | 5.2% | ||||
Brian Kelly (TUSC) | - | ||||
Finally, the Churnet Valley division on Staffordshire County Council is vacant following the death of Conservative Councillor Barrie Mycock. He was comfortably re-elected in 2009 with a 1000 vote margin over the Liberal Democrat candidate and although Labour are likely to surge they will struggle to prevent an easy Tory hold. The Conservatives have a large majority on the County Council.
Churnet Valley (Staffordshire) | |
By-Election Candidate | 2009 |
Mike Worthington (Con) | 53.9% |
Nicholas Brewin (LD) | 26.5% |
Mahfooz Ahmad (Lab) | 19.6% |
Darren Federici (UKIP) | - |
Tom Harris
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