As well as the parliamentary by-election in West Lancashire, there were five local contests yesterday. And two of them saw impressive gains for the Liberal Democrats.
First the Battledown ward of Cheltenham Borough Council:
Battledown (Cheltenham) council by-election result:
— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) February 9, 2023
LDEM: 52.0% (+12.9)
CON: 36.1% (-10.1)
GRN: 9.3% (+0.7)
LAB: 2.6% (-3.5)
Votes cast: 1,685
Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative.
If the Lib Dems doing well in Cheltenham does not sound so surprising, a look at Andrew Teale's preview of yesterday's by-elections reveals that Battledown is a ward the Tories have held at least since 2002. This is seriously good news for us.
And then there is the Masham and Fountains ward of North Yorkshire council:
Local government is undergoing reorganisation in North Yorkshire, so there's only last May's result to compare yesterday with, but Andrew Tealedescribes this as "normally a safely Conservative area," so this is another worrying result for them.Masham and Fountains (North Yorkshire) council by-election result:
— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) February 9, 2023
LDEM: 62.7% (+37.3)
CON: 37.3% (-7.0)
No Ind (-30.3) as prev.
Votes cast: 2,150
Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative.
The victorious Lib Dem is Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, the Countess of Swinton, who was also the Independent who polled 30 per cent of the vote last time. So you could say that this time she withdrew in her own favour,
Well done to everyone involved in these great victories. Meanwhile, Labour contrived to lose a seat to the Tories in North Wales yesterday.
Later. Fans of political trivia will be pleased to learn that Felicity Cunliffe-Lister's husband is the grandson of Willie Whitelaw.
I wonder if anyone else remembers going to Swinton Hall (on the estate run by the Cunliffe-Lister's) to attend training courses run by the old Liberal Agents Association? Ian Stewart and John Holmes put us through our paces, and I remember meeting an old boy there who had been a messenger boy in the Liberal Committee Room in Huddersfield in the 1906 General Election. The Press bang on about it being a Tory Party Staff College, but we had it as well, if only for the occasional weekend.
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