The story from Mid Suffolk is a familiar one in the aftermath of yesterday's County Council elections, and you could describe us as being the national picture in miniature.
- Bosmere - 987 votes, 38.9% (up 136 votes, +5%)
- Gipping Valley - 1,030 votes, 40.1% (up 317 votes, +8.1%)
- Hartismere - 258 votes, 8.7% (up 129 votes, +3.5%)
- Hoxne and Eye - 470 votes, 14.5% (up 332 votes, +9.4%)
- Stowmarket North and Stowupland - 181 votes, 6.8% (up 112 votes, +3.8%)
- Stowmarket South - 789 votes, 32.8% (up 251 votes, +9%)
- Thedwastre North - 199 votes, 6.4% (up 88 votes, +2.1%)
- Thedwastre South - 1,346 votes, 46.7% (up 624 votes, +17.5%)
- Thredling - 455 votes, 15.4% (up 306 votes, +9.7%)
- Upper Gipping - 122 votes, 4% (up 87 votes, +2.8%)
Our vote across the District increased from 3,455 to 5,837, or from 13.8% to 20.6%. Overall, we went from fourth in 2013 (behind the Greens) to a clear second place. The overall figures are;
- Conservatives - 14,457 votes, 50.9% (up 5,708 votes, +15.9%)
- Liberal Democrats - 5,837 votes, 20.6% (up 2,382 votes, +6.8%)
- Greens - 4,280 votes, 15.1% (up 381 votes, -0.5%)
- Labour - 3,191 votes, 11.2% (up 207 votes, -0.7%)
- UKIP - 620 votes, 2.2% (down 5,283 votes, -21.4%)
So, whilst we've lost a County seat (Bosmere), and I say that with a degree of personal sorrow, we can be proud that we gave it a good shot, that we've re-established ourselves as the real opposition to the Conservatives in Mid Suffolk, and that we have something to build on for the General Election that follows.
Just as UKIP came from nowhere in 2013, they've disappeared just as unexpectedly in 2017, and the Conservatives benefited hugely from that in a way that even the experts hadn't predicted.
The Conservatives will, if Brexit goes as wrong as one fears it might, be very unpopular by 2019. If we hold our nerve, we might be the beneficiaries of that, made possible by our showing yesterday.
