Liberal Democrats hold seat… with 37% vote increase

Nine by-elections for ten seats this week, and great to see that this time there was a full slate of Lib Dem candidates. (If you don’t have a candidate, you force people to vote for someone else – which is completely self-defeating in the face of the party’s struggle to get more voters to be regular, loyal supporters in the ballot box.)

The first result in was from London. A doubling of the Lib Dem vote, still third but, as I’ve quoted Jonathan Calder on before, the Lib Dems need more decent thirds (i.e. the ability show signs of life even in wards where the party is well of winning, rather than retrenching just to a small number of strong areas).

That was London, but up in Yorkshire the Lib Dems scored a very close second:

Elsewhere it’s notable the that poor Ukip by-election showing, as with their falling opinion poll ratings, continued – holding seats but losing votes:

Next in, a stonking Lib Dem hold in Ormesy with a 37% vote increase, giving the party 75% of the vote in a five-way contest. 75% is usually only seen with a two-way contest and even then is pretty good. To get it in a five-way contest… wow.

Special mention should go to the Ormesby calling leaflet, which got something right that far too many calling leaflets get wrong.

When you go out canvassing, most of the doors you knock on are unanswered, so campaigners leave a calling leaflet behind (as well as handing it over when someone is in). But if you just leave an ordinary leaflet behind, then the person who was out returns home none the wiser that a canvasser actually tried to call and speak to them in person. That is a mistake, because voters are usually much more impressed that someone tried to speak to them personally than that simply a canvassing dash to and from their letterbox.

Good calling leaflets, designed from the start with how they are going to be used in mind, therefore make it very clear from even a brief glance that someone tried to call. Good leaflets, that is, such as the Ormesby one: