Embed from Getty ImagesMichael Mullaney, who was our candidate in Hinckley and Bosworth on Thursday, has tweeted a list of the Liberal Democrat near misses at this election. They form a handy list of targets for the next election. The second column gives the number votes we were adrift of the winner, and the third the percentage swing needed to win it next time. It is this latter figure that determines a seat's ranking in the list. All these seats are held by the Conservatives except Burnley, which is held by Labour. % Godalming and Ash 891 0.81 Farnham and ...
This post comes with heavy caveats. Nothing is ever official until it is properly declared. However, the BBC is reporting this about that the SNP have conceded defeat ahead of tomorrow's recount in the Inverness, Skye and Ross West seat where Angus Macdonald is our candidate. This is the latest incarnation of the seat held between 1983 and 2015 by Charles Kennedy and has enormous emotional resonance for the party. It seems likely the constituency will go to the Liberal Democrats – although the result is not expected to be officially announced until after a second recount which will begin ...
Fri 5th
19:49
Bit of a cock-up on the counting front in Dingwall: Lib Dems wait for their 72nd win to be declared
Embed from Getty ImagesBREAKING... Drew Hendry has conceded that the Lib Dems will win the seat after the recount, so 72 it is. One general election result remains to be announced: it's the one from the Scottish Highland constituency of Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire. A second recount will be held there tomorrow morning. The delay does not appear to be caused by an exceptionally close result, but we are still having to wait for what sounds as though it will be a 72nd seat for the Liberal Democrats. The Press & Journal describes what went on at the Highland ...
How the 2024 general election compares with previous Liberal Democrat / Alliance / Liberal Party performances.
This is what Ed said after his result was announced in Kingston & Surbiton: Thank you. It's been a great privilege to serve our Kingston and Surbiton communities over many years. And I am humbled that you've put your faith in me – to do it again. So let me say a big "thank you". And thank you too, to Sarah our Returning Officer, and to all the staff and police who've worked here through the night. You are the unsung heroes of our democracy. It simply wouldn't work without you. And thank you to my fellow candidates. For making ...
On the equivalent day 9ish years ok I wrote this it was after a tough couple of days and no sleep as I took a train up from England, through Scotland and back to Northern Ireland. I wrote: I believe last night we [the Liberal Democrats] faced the sound of gunfire and many of us fell on the battlefield. But now is the time to entrench, bring in the reinforcements to fill the ranks and prepare for the next offensive in 2020. We have a fight on our hands to get back to the strong voice we have gained in ...
Yesterday was an extraordinary day. We now have the largest Liberal or Liberal Democrat representation in the Commons since the brief revival of 1923-4. A total of 71 Lib Dem MPs were elected, and that could rise to 72, depending on the result of a second recount tomorrow in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire. Only one piece of music will do. This is a vindication of the party's strategy and general election campaign. I was sceptical of the imaginative use being made of opinion polls, but in the end this still underestimated the hunger of the prosperous South to get ...
Anticappointment is a concept coined by Toby Hadoke, a prominent Doctor Who commentator, to describe how Doctor Who fans approach a new series. They worry that they are not going to like it, even though they probably will. As a Liberal Democrat it fits well with how we approach elections. Over forty years of disappointing election results has made me very cautious about predicting how many MPs we will end up with. I eventually decided to predict 32 MPs, pretty much our main target list. By the time polling day arrived, I knew that even though I was trying to ...
This has been a General Election in which I've probably been more active than ever before. I don't know who thought that a summer election was a good idea (well, I do actually - his name is Rishi) but from my personal perspective it's been a terrific experience. It's been a long six weeks and a long night - but before the dust settles and the real analysts try to make sense of the vote, here are some of my own thoughts on what we have learned from this election. a) This is the most disproportionate result in living memory. ...
From the University of Bath website: On the coalition negotiations in May 2010, William Hague is reported to have told his wife, Ffion: 'I think I've just killed the Liberal Democrats.' Well, William, it seems we have come back to life. Some personal reflections on the campaign, if I may: Firstly, I never thought we'd win Newbury outside of a by-election again after dear David Rendel was our MP from 1993 to 2005. During the campaign it became clear that the Tories had, more or less, given up. Two Tory stakeboards were spotted. They didn't have a stakeboard campaign – ...
It is unusual for the Liberal Democrats to actually benefit from the first past the post voting system but yesterday they were one of the few parties whose seat total actually came close to their percentage of votes - seventy one seats so far or 11% of the available seats for 12% of the vote. The biggest losers were the Tories who with 121 seats, amounting to 18.6% of the total MPs, actually polled 24% of the votes, while the biggest winner were Labour, whose vote share of 34% barely lifted off its 2019 level of 32.2%, but who have ...
A roundup of results and those we are waiting for. North East Fife – Wendy Chamberlain returns to Parliament, with a 13k majority. Witney – Charlie Maynard is our winner here. Esher & Walton – Monica Harding takes over from Dominic Raab, and with a 12k majority Frome & East Somerset – Anna Sabine is our champion here over the Tories South Devon – (was overlooked earlier, apologies) Caroline Voaden was our hero here. Mid Dunbartonshire – This was a rare gain from the SNP, and with a 10k majority, thanks to Susan Murray. Guildford – another previous Lib Dem ...
Following concerns from residents about the regularity of postal deliveries in the eastern part of Blackness Road, we contacted Royal Mail regarding this. Royal Mail's Senior Public Affairs Manager has responded as follows : "Thank you for your recent communication regarding mail deliveries Blackness Road in your constituency served by Dundee Central Delivery Office. I am sorry for the concern caused. I have made some enquiries with the Customer Operations Manager for Dundee Central Delivery Office and can confirm there are currently no known issues with the delivery of mail to Blackness Road. The Manager confirms that mail deliveries to ...
Lib Dem candidate Matthew Green was pipped at the post by Conservative Stuart Anderson in yesterday's general election. He lost by just 1,624 votes. Green was a late candidate after Chris Naylor had to stand down on medical advice. He came from nowhere to slaughter Philip Dunne's majority of 23,648. This seat could have been won but the Liberal Democrat national team were focussed on winning North Shropshire, which in my view was never in doubt. The view was that South Shropshire wasn't yet winnable. It was but we didn't get there. I'm gutted. Overall, it's been an excellent night ...
I'm afraid that the speed of the results – plus increasing tiredness – has meant that we have got a bit behind in reporting Lib Dem successes. I will be putting together a (almost) final summary of our wins shortly. * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
We've won Edinburgh West – well done Christine and team – a majority of 16k! Westmorland and Lonsdale – Tim and team win by a margin of 21k! Shropshire North – Helen and team win with a majority of a staggering 15k! Harpenden and Berkhamstead – LibDem gain with a nearly 11k majority. St Albans – LibDem hold by a stonking 20k majority Oxwab – Layla wins by 14kish Chippenham – LibDem gain by 8k! Taunton – LibDem gain by 12k Tiverton and Minehead – LD gain by 3k Winchester – LD gain by a staggering (nearly) 14k Lewes – ...
Glastonbury and Somerton is one of those newly drawn constituencies that is difficult to predict, but it has been shown as a Lib Dem gain from Conservatives. Sarah Dyke was our by-election winner in the overlapping constituency of Somerton & Frome so we are delighted to see her success in the new patch. And how lovely to see Tessa Munt returning to Parliament after losing her seat in 2015. Her new seat is called Wells and Mendip Hills. Wera Hobhouse has held Bath, I'm pleased to say. Over in North Norfolk Steff Aquarone has regained the North Norfolk seat where ...
I've been involved in general election campaigns in Newbury since 1987. I haven't dared make a forecast about whether we might win the seat this time. But on the ground, something extraordinary happened. The Tories gave up. They didn't put any posters up (there were just a couple isolated Tory posters where individuals put up old posters on their property). And on polling day, there was only a very thin Tory knocking up operation in evidence. Fingers crossed for Lee and team. The Newbury result is due at around 7am. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member ...
The outstanding LibDem results are coming so thick and fast it is difficult to keep up. I'm just going "Blimey – we've won XXX with a majority of YYY thousands" all the time. But just hold on, for a moment, to the Wokingham result. We won with a majority of over 8k!!! Well done Clive Jones and team! This is the result of huge effort over many years! * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Another South West seat has come our way – Ian Roome has won Devon North from the Conservatives. It was previously Nick Harvey's seat – until 2015. Hampshire North East has also come to us, thanks to Alex Brewer overturning a huge Conservative majority. And Jess Brown-Fuller has achieved a whopping 12,000 majority in Chichester – another seat we have never held before! Tunbridge Wells is similar – another blue wall seat that we have never held – but Mike Martin has taken it with a 8,000 majority. We are building up pockets of Lim Demmery and in Cambridgeshire Ely ...
I've woken up after a four hour sleep. The size of our majorities (eg Cheadle – well done Tom and team!) is just extraordinary. And we are appearing to win seats where I didn't know we had targets. Chichester for example. We won it with a majority of over 12k. Looking at my target seats list, we overturned a Tory majority of over 19k and only 4 out of the 13 pre-election MRP surveys said we would win it. So it was very low down on our list of expectations. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member ...
Another substantial gain – this time in South Cambridgeshire, which we have had our eyes on for many years. Pippa Heylings takes the seat from the Conservatives with a 10k majority. Down in the South West Martin Wrigley has taken Newton Abbot – formerly a solid Conservative seat. Back in Cambridgeshire Ian Sollom also took St Neots and Mid Cambs from the Tories. And down in Eastbourne the town has returned to the Lib Dems – well done to Josh Babarinde who takes it with a 12,000 majority. We have just heard that we have also regained Cheadle from the ...
Well, Ed Davey's record was short lived. Munira Wilson has held on to her Twickenham seat with a massive 21,000 majority! Huge congratulations to Marie Goldman who took Chelmsford from the Conservatives with a good majority! This is the first time we have won that seat. Then there is Steve Darling in Torbay, who turns the town orange again, following a challenging campaign. And Lisa Smart in Hazel Grove (back with us at last!). Bobby Dean regains Carshalton and Wallington – another seat we lost in 2015. They are just announcing that we have regained Cheltenham, one of our top ...
Ed Davey has held on to his Kingston & Surbiton seat, increasing his majority from 11k to 17k. This is the largest majority ever by a Lib Dem MP in a General Election – that's quite something. I am personally rather pleased that the location is given as Chessington, which lies within the constituency, because it is where I live. The count was held at the Kings Centre not far from my home. Up until now Chessington was only famous for our theme park. * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in ...
Congratulations to Tom Gordon – our first MP so far, and our first gain, in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Lib Dems first won the seat in 1997, and Phil Willis held on to it right through until he stood down in 2010, when it passed to the Conservatives. Wonderful to gain it back! And the next one to come in is also technically a gain, though one we held before the meltdown in 2015. Eastleigh is triumphant again with Liz Jarvis! * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where ...
Yet more waiting until the key results, from our perspective, start to come in. So let's fill in the time with reflections on the campaign. Thanks to Andy Boddington for this photo of farmer and Shropshire Councillor Richard Huffer who finds a different way to draw attention to the campaign for Matthew Green, PPC for South Shropshire. * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
