Political

Mixed picture this week for Lib Dems as most by-elections go without candidates

Eight principal authority council by-elections this week, but very disappointingly only three Liberal Democrat candidates. That’s the same number as the last time these seats were up.

There are many different stories behind missing candidates, including hard-pressed volunteers doing their best. But the overall picture is a big missed opportunity for the party. There are many benefits of standing even in contests that we know we aren’t going to win, as I’ve set out here.

Perhaps most important is the impact of every single voter seeing a ballot paper without the Liberal Democrats on it. That sends the wrong message about a party recovering and returning to mainstream political relevance after several tough years.

So if you’ve got a by-election coming up, please do stand – and if you need help doing this, please do ask.

Thank you to Beryl Blackmore for standing, and congratulations on getting the Lib Dems back into second place, something previously done way back in 2012.

No Lib Dem this time even though we did have one last time around.

Thank you to James Haslam for standing.

No Lib Dem last time, or the time before, and straight into a promising second place this time. Nice work, Nigel Marshall.

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. But this week, this other by-election did come to notice:

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2 responses to “Mixed picture this week for Lib Dems as most by-elections go without candidates”

  1. clearly the Greens are gaining more traction on the ground than the Liberal Democrats, and they will be making the most of their opportunities, over the next couple of weeks especially.
    I have long thought it the role of the Party’s Regional organisers to make sure every election has a Liberal Democrat standing, how else do you show the electorate that the party is not moribund in your area, how else do you start to find your core vote!

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