Chair's Election Report and Results
[caption id="attachment_516" align="alignright" width="172"] Janet King
Chair of Bromsgrove Liberal Democrats[/caption]
Our County election campaign was based on the need for a much more politically balanced council and we now have a County Council, which is considerably closer to what we want - except that we are not playing as leading a role as we were before the election.
The Conservatives lost 11 seats and now hold 30 so they are still in over all control but just 1 more loss would have resulted in Worcestershire being a NOC (no overall control) rather than a Conservative led County Council. Labour had the real success story with 9 gains and therefore becoming the opposition party with 12 seats. Our 4 losses left us one seat behind UKIP but equal to their 4 seats if we add the one Liberal hold in Wyre Forest as a vote for Liberalism.
The Greens celebrated 2 wins and there are now more Independents than before. We wanted a more politically diverse council and we have got it!!
Despite working hard in Bromsgrove East, I actually lost ground compared to 2009, when I came second. This time I came fourth (though only 24 votes behind Labour) which was disappointing because we had done a survey, focussing on two particular issues on the Oakalls, delivered two leaflets and a postal voter letter and my canvassing in some areas seemed to be coming up with positive results. I had an email from County leader Liz Tucker thanking us for our hard work and commiserating.
Margaret Rowley, who also came second last time, came fourth in Droitwich. We lost our Malvern seats but Liz Tucker (Pershore), Tom Wells (Powick) and Sue Askin (Claines) retained theirs, Tom with a particularly high poll and an increased majority.
It seems however that this area is not supporting our party and we need to make more impact. The question is "how?" Did our 2009 voters stay away or change party because they do not like what the coalition Government is doing?
Did Labour work harder or smarter than us locally? Did UKIP, who took my second place on 2nd May, have a strong local message?
Was it just to be expected because local voters always vote in the opposite direction from national electors? Was the result symptomatic of a worrying move to the right? I wish I had the answer, which is maybe a combination of all the above.
I do have one serious suggestion, though. Let's follow Paddy Ashdown's advice and behave as if we won i.e. campaign for local causes, making sure we get maximum publicity, establish ourselves as community champions and take on any cases, which come our way. We found some awful examples of County neglect during our election deliveries; streets where footway repairs had been promised and never done, concerns about school parking, flooding problems and we can follow up these problems without being officially elected (in fact any resident can report highways problems, as you know).
Finally, a big thank you to Tom Coe, who managed our campaign whilst working full-time and studying successfully for his legal exams. Thank you to Mike Mihailovic, Sandra Docker and Joe Hearn for standing as candidates and to all our loyal deliverers and voters.
We shall continue to survey, get involved and knock on doors until we do get a Lib Dem councillor and that is a promise I shall do my utmost to keep. Your help would be appreciated.
With best wishes,
Janet
To view all of the results in the Divisions that our candidates contested, please visit our 2013 Elections page.