Back Home From The Count At 4 a.m. (updated)

May

6

by admin // in Elections

13 comments

It’s been a long night!

The election results are on the District Council website here.

Regarding the four seats the Lib Dems contested:

June Lumley romped home in Grange Ward, beating the Conservatives by 857 to 295. Despite the ups and downs of national politics , June received 74% of the vote, the same percentage as she received 4 years ago.

June Lumley (Lib Dem) 857
Scott Crossland (Conservative) 295

Ron Oatham did equally well in Downhall and Rawreth , beating the Conservatives by 1134 to 413. A nice win after one Conservative Councillor said during the day that he thought Ron would ‘scrape home’

Ron Oatham (Lib Dem) 1134
Mark Hale (Conservative) 413

Trevor Parrettt finished second in Sweyne Park Ward. Conservative Toby Mountain received 673 votes, Trevor got 316 and the English Democrats got 195. This was a ‘gain’ for the Conservatives because Jackie Dillnutt won this for us in 2007 by just 30 votes. The Conservatives already hold the other seat in this ward, so this was always going to be a difficult one for Trevor to fight.

Toby Mountain (Conservative) 673
Trevor Parrett (Lib Dem) 316
Alan Twydell (English Democrats) 195

Nicola Davis also came second in Lodge Ward. This was an improvement for us . Three years ago we didn’t even stand; four years ago we came third. Conservative Ian Ward was elected with 901 votes, Nicola received 276 votes and the English Democrats received 241 votes. A difficult contest for Nicola just 2 1/2 months after having a baby, and a laudable first attempt at being an election agent by Sam Moffat.

Ian Ward (Conservative) 901
Nicola Davis (Lib Dem) 276
Jason Hodson (English Democrats) 241

In other key contests:

In Hullbridge, the Conservatives fended off challenges from the Greens, English Democrats and Labour:
Angela Hale (Conservative) 990
John Hayter (English Democrats) 540
Martin Crocombe (Greens) 425
Angelina Marriott (albour) 402

In Rochford, Keith Gordon also kept his seat for the Conservatives, with new Labour candidate Rob Brown getting second:
Keith Gordon (Conservative) 861
Rob Brown (Labour) 588
Paul Scott (Green) 357
Richard Amner (Independent) 187

However the Conservatives did lose a seat – Hawkwell West – to Christine Mason of the Rochford Residents Party:
Christine Mason (RRP) 660
Liz Marlow (Conservative) 503
Myra Weir (Labour) 245

So, we would like to congratulate all the new members of the District Council – and thank everyone who helped us and voted for us in these elections.

Elsewhere:

In Hawkwell North, new Tory candidate Robert Pointer won pretty easily:

Robert Pointer (Conservative) 1039
John Jefferies (Labour) 423

In Hawkwell South , Tory Phil Capon had a fairly comfortable win:

Phil Capon (Conservative) 832
Emily Barker (Labour) 455

In Hockley Central, the least right-wing candidate , Tory Keith Hudson had an easy win:

Keith Hudson (Conservative) 1577
Thomas Broad (English Democrats) 295
Carl Whitwell (UKIP) 255

About the author, admin

  • Thanks for that Trevor. How did you manage to be up and about so early? (I’ve just surfaced!!)
    I’d like to say that I admire you and Nicola for fighting what were always going to be difficult seats to contest, Lodge having been a tory stronghold for a number of years and Sweyne Park being one that they were smarting over losing four years ago and throwing all their efforts into getting it back.
    Very creditable second places and here’s to the next time!

  • At a time when people are dying in their attempts to have democratic societies it is an absolute disgrace that only 42% of people in the Downhall Ward bothered to vote.

  • Thank you very much Ron – Needs must re work so ….
    Considering the differing levels of manpower available in the 2 parties, I think we did very well. Nicola did an amazing job with all she is juggling! Onwards to next time.

  • If pushed I could probably sum up the Conservative and Labour party aims in a couple of sentences, but I would really struggle with the Lib Dems. You guys
    ( Chris & Ron ) do a fantastic job locally but nationally I have no idea whatsoever what you stand for. It may be a lack of knowledge on my part or perhaps this is, among others, one of the problems that the party faces.

  • I think you are right. It is very hard to sum up our party aims in a couple of sentences. The official view is “The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity” but that is pretty vague.

    On economic policy it was all a lot simpler for us in the ’80s when you had Thatcherism on one side and outright socialism on the other, it was easy for us to offer a middle path. Not so easy now – though I think we are doing a good job inside government holding back the extreme right of the Conservative Party who seem to hate the NHS, BBC , etc. But that’s not being seen by the public.

    Also a lot of the “Liberal” issues over the last 40 of 50 years have been won.

    If Nick Clegg asked me to write a new approach for our party I think I’d have five sections and my initial notes would say:

    Support free enterprise – but the wealth should be shared, the lowest paid shouldn’t pay income tax (we are already achieving this) and big corporations and super-rich shouldn’t get away with paying little.

    Protect and properly fund the good things our country does – the NHS, the BBC, the armed forces.

    Look to the future on the environment – less dependence on oil, not just for global warming reasons but because the stuff will become scarcer.

    Look to the future for our role in the world. We have the advanatge of being an English speaking country and the home of some great universities and some major scientific and financial institutions. We should aim to be a world hub for education, science and finance. (providing the financiers pay their taxes!)

    The second word in our title is DEMOCRATS. We have to get people more involved in democracy. At the local level, we need to give councils more freedom to act and to do things. That could be funded by giving councils National Non-Domestic Rates (the old business rates) which at the moment is kept by national government. At the national level have more referenda. For example, on having proper Proportional Representation (though I wouldn’t try that one soon), and on any further big changes to the EU.

    Phew. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

    Now, I can’t change national policy. But we need to set out some aims for what we want to do LOCALLY. That will be something to write about separately sometime!

  • We also stood for not wasting public money on a weapon system that is ridiculously expensive, that is not certain to work and if it did, would we really want to use it. Libs have to be different and at times put forward the other point of view. I voted for the party that opposed war in Iraq and for abandoning Trident. There was no alternative vote as no other party stood for these principles. Better to lose than betray your principles for power, even if it is a share. Rant over.

  • Of course they are extremely good results, but I’ve found one better in Essex!

    That’s Gary Scott in Alresford (in Tendring District). He got 75 % in a three way contest with Conservative and Labour. Considering the Lib Dems lost other seats in Tendring, he must be one heck of a councillor….!

    Luke EDWARDS Conservative 148
    Terry RIPO Labour 82
    Gary SCOTT Liberal Democrat 688

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