On the way to the count this morning, I made my predictions for the Gateshead local elections. But how close were they?
Greetings from an election-free Gipping Valley, where it gives me great pleasure to report on events in the East of England. In truth, you can pretty much divide the region into two halves today. In Norfolk and Suffolk, only the county towns saw election action, and Bedfordshire sat this one out altogether. That left Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire to fight, and the results have been pretty good. We'll start with Essex, which saw gains in Brentwood (2), Colchester (2), Rochford (2), Epping Forest and Southend-on-Sea, as half of the councils were up, which indicates that progress is being made. The ...
This video takes us to the sites of the various vanished stations within the city of Norwich. If you enjoy it then try the similar ones from the Rediscovering Lost Railways account that I have posted on Oxford and Cambridge.
As of 7:45pm, the Liberal Democrats accordinf to the BBC, have gained 190 councillors in today's elections in England, 20 in Scotland and 11 in Wales. It's fair to say that this way exceeds our expectations. In Ed Davey's home patch in Kingston, our Council must be doing something right. We achieved 41 seats compared to 3 Tories and an Independent. The final ward is subject to a deferred election because of the sad death of one of the candidates. This is even better than the Richmond result where we won 48 seats (up 9) with just 6 opposition seats. ...
Congratulations to Helen Clarke for retaining - and increasing her majority over Labour - in Coedffranc West, and to Cen Phillips for joining her in the expanded council ward. He was also well clear of the nearest opposition. Frank Little was squeezed in a bitter battle between Labour and the Green Party in Coedffranc Central and finished bottom of the poll. The councillors for this expanded ward will be Angharad Aubrey for Welsh Labour and Nathan Goldup-John for the Greens. Frank will, however, serve as community councillor for the ward. Full results will be on the council's website.
In 2017, the voters in Powys elected 30 independent councillors, though that was down on previous elections. The Conservatives had 19 seats and the Liberal Democrats 13. Today us Lib Dems have 24 seats, not enough to control the council but negotiations on how the council will be run are getting underway. The final standing in Powys is: Lib Dems – 24 Independents – 17 Conservative – 14 Labour – 9 Plaid Cymru – 3 Green Party – 1 I suspect there will be lots of phonecalls between councillors over the weekend. — Elgan Hearn Local Democracy Reporter (@ElganHearnLDR) May ...
I'll do a more considered analysis of the May election results in the next edition of Lib Dem Newswire, but ahead of that here are some initial highlights.
When I woke in the night, I wanted you so much!I burned, I yearned, to writhe again with you,to share our fullness in those frantic urgencies;the rod of my desire lay heavy on my guts –a delightful torment, chasing sleep to shadow –the road was bright, the fires were lit,the way ahead was clear! But [...]
Embed from Getty ImagesRed faces at Conservative Central Office this morning as the party's expert on beating the Liberal Democrats has lost his council seat... to the Liberal Democrats. As the Spectator puts it: For incumbent councillor Hayward Burt has been soundly beaten in the Blackmoor Vale ward for Somerset Council, losing alongside his colleague William Wallace to two Lib Dems Sarah Dyke and Nicola Clarke. The two Tories gained 1,443 and 1,328 votes respectively, compared to Dyke on 1,814 and Clarke on 1,590.
There has been very encouraging news from Scotland today. If you had told us at the start of the campaign that we would gain TWENTY seats, we would accused you of being wildly optimistic. So far we are up 6 seats in Edinburgh, doubling the size of our group. Sanne Djikstra-Downie wins in Forth ward in Edinburgh: Longstanding councillor Dobbie Aldridge is joined by Ed Thornley in Drum Brae/Gyle. It was pretty audacious to put up 3 candidates in a 4 member ward, even if in 2017 Kevin Lang won with the highest ever vote of any councillor in Scotland. ...
Hayward Burt, head of the Liberal Democrat Unit at Conservative Party HQ, was standing for the Conservatives in the local elections in Somerset. He is a councillor on South Somerset authority and was standing this time for the new unitary council that's coming. The result? A Liberal Democrat victory in his ward. Somerset County Council Elections Results Election of Councillors for the BLACKMOOR VALE Division Hayward Burt - Conservative Party - 1,443 Nicola Clark - Liberal Democrats - 1,590 Sarah Dyke - Liberal Democrats - 1,814 William Wallace - Conservative Party - 1,328 https://t.co/IPt3uWc6Hy pic.twitter.com/P8U94t1tZL — South Somerset DC (@Southsomersetdc) ...
Thu, 12:39: With 4.25 million registered voters for Scotland's local government elections #LES22 today, and 1.37 million in Northern Ireland for the Assembly #AE22, is this the biggest ever STV vote in UK history? Thu, 12:56: Gwenny en Marino verwelkomen met Laex 12e (en laatste) kindje: "Allemaal namen met letters A, E, L en X" | VRT NWS: nieuws https://t.co/dsutWvngVR Alex,�Axel, Xela, Lexa, Xael, Xeal, Exla, Leax, Xale, Elax en Alxe have a new sister: Laex Thu, 14:12: Hah! Daily Quordle 101 5️⃣4️⃣ 6️⃣7️⃣ https://t.co/Cm9zc2fDBW https://t.co/s1NEOhNBd1 Thu, 16:05: RT @APCOBXLInsider: https://t.co/79hNaTwDPv Watch our @nwbrux on an @AlJazeera panel debate on ...
In the early hours today, it became clear that the Lib Dems have made substantial gains across the country, including taking control of Hull. Baroness Susan Kramer to spoke to the BBC's Huw Edwards about the party's successes. * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary in print, on air or online.
As Andy has already said, it's been a good night for the Liberal Democrats so far, regaining control of Hull after 11 years and gaining from the Conservatives in places like Colchester and West Oxfordshire. ALDC has done a great job in getting many of its staff members elected. Its Chief Exec Tim Pickstone has left Bury and won a seat on the new Cumberland Council. Frankie Singleton, Chris Twells, Alex Warren and Tim Verboven are among others who have won. Today we wait for results from Scotland and Wales, English councils and the rest of London. And we are ...
If you are just waking up, the news is the Conservatives are suffering losses, though they are not so far as great as some predicted. Labour is doing well in London having taken the former Tory strongholds of Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet but not as well elsewhere. The Lib Dems and Greens made gains at the expense of the bigger parties. And the Lib Dems have regained control of Hull! All the results so far are for councils in England. Scotland and Wales will begin counting shortly. The leader of Hull's Liberal Democrats Mike Ross told Radio 4 in the ...
The results of yesterday's Dundee City Council election will be known later today. Dundee Liberal Democrat candidates would sincerely like to thank everyone for their support yesterday and for their warm welcome on the doorsteps. We are very grateful to residents and also to our many volunteers who helped the campaign. We will continue to work hard for everyone in the city and do our best for all local residents we represent on Dundee City Council - thanks again!
Forget the Red Wall and the Blue Wall: Rutland is where the action is tonight. Stephen Lambert has won the Rutland County Council by-election in the Uppingham ward for the Liberal Democrats. The result: Lib Dems - 661 Independent - 327 Conservative - 206 Reform - 36 The by-election was caused by the resignation of a Green councillor. Meanwhile Rutland's Conservative group has continued to fall apart, with three more of its remaining members leaving. They included the council's leader Oliver Hemsley, who has issued a rather rambling statement saying he intends to stay in this post as an unaligned ...
We'll be bringing updates through the night and through to Saturday. In the small hours, it is looking good for the Lib Dems. But it is early yet and some counts won't begin until the morning. This was a state of play at 5am. Labour are making some gains now. The Conservatives are doing badly but not as badly as excepted (hoped for). And the big news so far. The Lib Dems have gained 42 new seats and have taken control of Hull Council. This post is no longer being updated. We'll publish more news and comment shortly. Latest scoreboard ...
