Well, as Treasurer of the Mid Suffolk Local Party, I had set my goals fairly low for the campaign, with the hope that we might retain our deposits in Bury St Edmunds and in Suffolk Central and North Ipswich. As for the District Council elections, my fear was that we would be swept away by high turnout.
Firstly, the Parliamentary elections. Given the calamitous performance across the country, retaining both deposits is something of a pleasant surprise, even if the results are awful.
In Bury St Edmunds, David Chappell came fifth with 3,581 votes (6%), down 20.4% on our 2010 performance, when we came second. In Suffolk Central and North Ipswich, Jon Neal came fourth with 3,314 votes (6.1%), down 18.8% on our 2010 performance. I am grateful to them for their willingness to fly the flag under difficult circumstances.
On Mid Suffolk District Council, we lost two of the six seats we were defending, Ringshall, where we were defending a majority of just 20 with a new candidate, and Claydon and Barham, where the incumbent retired. Wendy Marchant and Mike Norris survived in Needham Market, although Mike only scraped in by eight votes. In Rattlesden, Penny Otton came home fairly comfortably and John Field topped the poll in the the two-member ward of Bramford and Blakenham.
Elsewhere, Keith Scarff came up eighty-eight votes short in Stowmarket South, having lost by sixty-five on a much lower turnout in 2011, and Doug Reed lost by ninety-five in Elmswell and Norton.
On a personal note, I didn't contest Stowupland ward this time. However, there was a sting in the tale for the not so local Conservatives when Keith Welham beat Jemma Lynch by 103 votes to take the seat for the Greens.
So, how does that leave Mid Suffolk District Council?
Prior to the election, the Conservatives held twenty-two of the forty seats, with three Condependents to be counted upon, with six Liberal Democrats, four Greens (plus a reliable Independent, the wife of the Green group leader), two Suffolk Together, one Labour and one 'proper' Independent. Now, we have twenty-nine Conservatives (plus Charlie Flatman in Eye), five Greens, four Liberal Democrats and Gerard Brewster, the Independent from Stowmarket South.
So, goodbye Suffolk Together and farewell to the Labour Party in Mid Suffolk, both swept away by the Conservative tide and a massively increased turnout.
Our membership is already up since polling day, and the work begins now for 2017 and the County elections...
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