Friday, January 15, 2010

A chance to halve the Conservative majority on Mid Suffolk District Council

Following yesterday's resignation of Bruce Cameron-Laker, there is a vacant seat on Mid Suffolk District Council in Haughley & Wetherden, north-west of Stowmarket, and one of the four district wards that make up the County division of Upper Gipping (why does that sound vaguely familiar?).

I don't know Bruce at all, except that he is a Conservative who won the ward by just 45 votes in 2007 over Liberal Democrat candidate, Geoff Clarke. The full result last time:
  • 354 votes    Bruce Cameron-Laker (Conservative)
  • 309 votes    Geoff Clarke (Liberal Democrat)
  • 122 votes    Jenny Overett (Green)
So, less than a 3% swing required to reduce the Conservative majority to just two, albeit that at least one of the four independents is a Conservative in disguise.

More news as it comes in...
at

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous17 January 2010 at 18:18

    Hmnnn. It might look like a marginal, but that is over-looking the fact that the blogger only gained 7% in Upper Gipping this year, and indeed only a few dozen votes in Haughley and Wetherden. Looks more like a Tory/Green marginal now. Cutting the Tory majority on the council would be nice though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark Valladares18 January 2010 at 09:32

    Hi Anonymous,

    Depends upon the candidate and the campaign. As I recall from the box counts, as called by Andrew Stringer, the Green vote was weighted towards the Mendlesham end of the County division.

    So the Greens won't have it all their own way, I suspect...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous26 March 2010 at 21:02

    Well, the Tory majority got cut alright, but not quite as expected in all the LD leaflets "Only the Lib Dems can beat the Tories" & "2 Horse Race" & "The Greens Can't win here"

    The serious point is the way that stuff actually damages the integrity of the entire political process, if it has any left after another grisly week in Westminster. Fortunately the locals in Haughley & Wetherden resented the insults to their intelligence, and acted accordingly.

    ReplyDelete