Liberal Democrats lose seat to independents in Cornwall

Council by-elections don’t wait for a general election, so we’ve got another six this week: two Liberal Democrat defences, one Labour defence and three formerly independent seats.

Marconi, Chelmsford

The ward is named after the famous inventor and is on the council which saw a dramatic Liberal Democrat victory in May. The defence of the seat by Smita Rajesh for the Lib Dems was, however, made trickier by the public falling out between the outgoing councillor and briefly Party President candidate Catherine Finnecy and the party.

In those circumstances, the result was an impressive hold:

Wadebridge West, Cornwall

Julia Fletcher, known to many Liberal Democrats in London for her previous stint as a councillor there, stood to defend this Lib Dem seat. Alas, she wasn’t successful this time:

Fairfield, Croydon

Andrew Rendle stood for the Liberal Democrats and took the party back up into third:

Hundleton, Pembrokeshire

Shirley Hammond-Williams stood for the Liberal Democrats, making her the party’s first candidate here since the ward came into being for the 2004 elections. Thank you Shirley!

Lerwick South, Shetland

Beatrice Wishart, newly elected a Liberal Democrat MSP, has now stood down as a councillor. But as she’d run for the council without using the party label, this was technically an independent vacancy rather than a Lib Dem defence.

Shetland Central, Shetland

In the same independent vein as Lerwick South, there was no Liberal Democrat candidate.

These by-election results round-ups cover principal authority by-elections. See my post The danger in celebrating parish and town council wins for your own party for the reasons to avoid straying too often into covering town, parish or community council by-elections.