The Conservatives emerged victorious from the sole principle authority by-election to take place last week, despite their vote share dropping 13%. The by-election in Staithe, Fenland DC (Cambridgeshire) was taking place following the tragic death of the Conservative Councillor Roger Green in a car crash.
The Tories were expected to hold the seat but they had to survive a 7.5% swing towards Labour from May's election. David Hodgson's margin of victory was 62 votes over the Labour candidate. As Labour's vote share only increased by a modest 1.8% this is possibly a reflection of the previous Councillor's personal vote.
The Liberal Democrats polled a respectable 16.5% in a ward they had not contested for a number of elections. With turnout very similar to May it would appear many of the former Conservative voters backed the Lib Dems in this by-election.
The Conservatives enjoy a huge majority in Fenland and the next full Council elections due to take place in 2015.
Staithe (Fenland) | |||
By-Election Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- |
David Hodgson (Con) | 228 | 42.0% | -13.1% |
John White (Lab) | 166 | 30.6% | +1.8% |
Robert McLaren (LD) | 90 | 16.6% | +16.6% |
William Schooling (UKIP) | 39 | 7.2% | -8.9% |
Phil Webb (Ind) | 20 | 3.7% | +3.7% |
Tom Harris
Tom should be back to normal-ish this weeks. No work jaunts to the north (or Wales) are planned, although neither were the previous ones at this stage in the previous weeks!
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