UK local by-elections 2014

[Filuwaúrdjan]

As hilarious as this is, it's worth pointing out - again - that Portsoken is not exactly typical of the City. Let's play with census statistics.

In the City as a whole an absolutely insane 57.7% of the population are in managerial/professional occupations: the figure in Portsoken is a much more normal 27.3% (which is actually lower than the figure for London and slightly lower than the figure for England). The City of London is still rather white (78.5% in total, 57.5% 'White British'). Not so Portsoken (51.3%, 36.3%: lower figures than London as a whole). Last, and by no leans least, 66% of households in Portsoken live in socially rented properties.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

As hilarious as this is, it's worth pointing out - again - that Portsoken is not exactly typical of the City. Let's play with census statistics.

In the City as a whole an absolutely insane 57.7% of the population are in managerial/professional occupations: the figure in Portsoken is a much more normal 27.3% (which is actually lower than the figure for London and slightly lower than the figure for England). The City of London is still rather white (78.5% in total, 57.5% 'White British'). Not so Portsoken (51.3%, 36.3%: lower figures than London as a whole). Last, and by no leans least, 66% of households in Portsoken live in socially rented properties.

So Portsoken is basically a continuation of Tower Hamlets (but without the Bangladeshis)?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

As hilarious as this is, it's worth pointing out - again - that Portsoken is not exactly typical of the City. Let's play with census statistics.

In the City as a whole an absolutely insane 57.7% of the population are in managerial/professional occupations: the figure in Portsoken is a much more normal 27.3% (which is actually lower than the figure for London and slightly lower than the figure for England). The City of London is still rather white (78.5% in total, 57.5% 'White British'). Not so Portsoken (51.3%, 36.3%: lower figures than London as a whole). Last, and by no leans least, 66% of households in Portsoken live in socially rented properties.

So Portsoken is basically a continuation of Tower Hamlets (but without the Bangladeshis)?

Oh, it has Bangladeshis (about a fifth of the population).

So yes.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

As hilarious as this is, it's worth pointing out - again - that Portsoken is not exactly typical of the City. Let's play with census statistics.

In the City as a whole an absolutely insane 57.7% of the population are in managerial/professional occupations: the figure in Portsoken is a much more normal 27.3% (which is actually lower than the figure for London and slightly lower than the figure for England). The City of London is still rather white (78.5% in total, 57.5% 'White British'). Not so Portsoken (51.3%, 36.3%: lower figures than London as a whole). Last, and by no leans least, 66% of households in Portsoken live in socially rented properties.

So Portsoken is basically a continuation of Tower Hamlets (but without the Bangladeshis)?

Oh, it has Bangladeshis (about a fifth of the population).

So yes.

On that first point, I stand corrected.

Which makes me wonder why Labour didn't win here before. Or was this solely due to the whole 'respecting the traditions of the city' nonsense? The business vote isn't all that high either (albeit still significant).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sort of, I guess. Related to that would be strong local-candidate-for-local-people independents. It's only recently that Labour have started contesting elections in the City, and that shows.

[ObserverIE]

Holy Word here and here.

Sunderland, St Anne's

Lab 48.1 (-24.0)
UKIP 28.2 (+28.2)
Con 17.6 (+3.6)
Green 6.1 (-5.0)

Oxfordshire, Chalgrove and Watlington

Con 41.8 (-15.9)
Lib Dem 30.2 (+12.4)
UKIP 14.9 (+14.9)
Lab 7.6 (-5.0)
Green 5.6 (-6.3)

Dartford, Stone

Lab 37.7 (-5.1)
Con 35.1 (-8.5)
UKIP 27.2 (+27.2)

Fylde, St John's

Ratepayers 65.7 (+27.6)
Con 16.7 (-22.3)
UKIP 8.2 (+8.2)
Lib Dem 5.1 (-17.8)
Green 4.3 (+4.3)

Gedling, Gedling

Lab 32.6 (-2.0)
Lib Dem 28.9 (-2.2)
UKIP 22.8 (+22.8)
Con 15.7 (-13.1)

East Ayrshire, Kilmarnock North

SNP 44.2 (-8.5)
Lab 37.4 (+1.7)
Con 16.3 (+4.7)
Green 2.0 (+2.0)

SNP	1334	1358	1473
Lab	1130	1147	1320
Con	493	501
Green	61

Lab hold Stone
Ratepayers hold St John's
Lab gain Gedling from Lib Dem
SNP hold Kilmarnock North

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Less than impressive result in Sunderland is probably explained (at least in part) by the circumstances of the poll...

[ObserverIE]

Holy Word

Pendle, Blacko and Higherford

Con 66.7 (-13.1)
UKIP 15.5 (+15.5)
Lab 11.7 (-8.5)
Lib Dem 6.1 (+6.1)

[ObserverIE]

Holy Word here ac yma.

Cumbria, Belle Vue

Lab 45.8 (-20.1)
Con 35.3 (+1.2)
UKIP 19.0 (+19.0)

Flintshire, Flint Trelawny

Lab 38.6 (-17.7)
UKIP 28.8 (+28.8)
Ind 26.7 (-3.0)
Con 6.0 (+6.0)

North East Derbyshire, Coal Aston

Con 46.3 (-2.4)
Lab 36.5 (-1.1)
UKIP 17.2 (+17.2)

Vale of White Horse, Wantage Charlton

Con 41.9 (-6.9)
Lib Dem 38.4 (+5.2)
Lab 11.0 (-7.0)
Green 8.8 (+8.8)

[Andrea]

Poor week for Labour

[Harry Hayfield]

Am I correct in assuming no Maundy Thursday by-elections then?

[doktorb]

Am I correct in assuming no Maundy Thursday by-elections then?

The next set is the 24th


24th April - 4
Caerphilly, UA, Blackwood - Labour resigned
East Cambridgeshire DC, Sutton - Conservative resigned
East Lindsey DC, Horncastle - Conservative died
North Kesteven DC, Osbournby - Independent died

Read more: http://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/3681/spring-2014-elections-pre-annual?page=16#ixzz2yjxSSObB

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Am I correct in assuming no Maundy Thursday by-elections then?

The next set is the 24th


24th April - 4
Caerphilly, UA, Blackwood - Labour resigned
East Cambridgeshire DC, Sutton - Conservative resigned
East Lindsey DC, Horncastle - Conservative died
North Kesteven DC, Osbournby - Independent died

Read more: http://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/3681/spring-2014-elections-pre-annual?page=16#ixzz2yjxSSObB

I like that idea.  It means I don't have to write a Holy Word this weekend.

[joevsimp]

Am I correct in assuming no Maundy Thursday by-elections then?

The next set is the 24th


24th April - 4
Caerphilly, UA, Blackwood - Labour resigned
East Cambridgeshire DC, Sutton - Conservative resigned
East Lindsey DC, Horncastle - Conservative died
North Kesteven DC, Osbournby - Independent died

Read more: http://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/3681/spring-2014-elections-pre-annual?page=16#ixzz2yjxSSObB

Laboutr hold one, UKIP gain three?

what date do the cease bothering and hold them same day as euros?

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Am I correct in assuming no Maundy Thursday by-elections then?

The next set is the 24th


24th April - 4
Caerphilly, UA, Blackwood - Labour resigned
East Cambridgeshire DC, Sutton - Conservative resigned
East Lindsey DC, Horncastle - Conservative died
North Kesteven DC, Osbournby - Independent died

Read more: http://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/3681/spring-2014-elections-pre-annual?page=16#ixzz2yjxSSObB

Laboutr hold one, UKIP gain three?

what date do the cease bothering and hold them same day as euros?

Well, two of them are in Lincolnshire, and the UKIP group in Lincolnshire has rather fallen apart over the last year.

[ObserverIE]

Holy Words here ac yma

Caerphilly, Blackwood

Lab 41.0 (-4.4)
Ind 31.5 (-3.4)
PC 23.1 (+10.5)
Con 4.5 (-2.6)

East Cambridgeshire, Sutton

Lib Dem 50.9 (+31.1)
Con 27.2 (-21.1)
UKIP 15.8 (+15.8)
Lab 6.1 (-25.8)

East Lindsey, Horncastle

Con 38.4 (+1.1)
Ind 31.4
UKIP 30.2 (+30.2)

North Kesteven, Osbournby

Con 49.7 (+19.3)
Lincs Ind 42.8 (-26.8)
Lab 6.1 (+6.1)
Lib Dem 1.4 (+1.4)

Lib Dem gain Sutton from Con
Con gain Osbournby from Ind

[ObserverIE]

Thà an Focal Naomh an seo.

[doktorb]

Thà an Focal Naomh an seo.

[ObserverIE]

Thà an Focal Naomh an seo.

Apart from a rather literal-sounding translation of "word" as "focal" and the slightly odd spelling of "anseo" it all makes perfect sense to me...

Anyway...

Highland, Caol and Mallaig

Ind Thompson 39.0
SNP 30.4 (+15.6)
Ind Watson 22.5
UKIP 5.6 (+5.6)
SCP 2.6 (+1.0)

Ind Thompson wins (no more detailed figures available, and on past form from Highland Council, we're not going to get any).

[ObserverIE]

Holy Word here

Fenland, Roman Bank

Con 48.1 (-5.9)
UKIP 33.8 (+33.8)
Lab 12.2 (-16.3)
Ind 4.4
Lib Dem 1.5 (-15.9)

[ObserverIE]

South Lanarkshire, Clydesdale South

Lab 40.8 (-2.7)
SNP 32.0 (-9.7)
Con 18.0 (+7.5)
UKIP 6.4 (+2.1)
Green 2.8 (+2.8)

Lab	1492	1512	1559	1819
SNP	1170	1203	1260	1356
Con	659	674	744
UKIP	233	247
Green	104

Lab gain from SNP

[freefair]

East Cambridgeshire, Sutton

Lib Dem 50.9 (+31.1)
Con 27.2 (-21.1)

Lib Dem gain Sutton from Con

WTF
Also, there seems to be a trend of Increasing Tory votes in Scotland. I hope this continues, it's about time they had a balanced political spectrum

[afleitch]

South Lanarkshire, Clydesdale South

Lab 40.8 (-2.7)
SNP 32.0 (-9.7)
Con 18.0 (+7.5)
UKIP 6.4 (+2.1)
Green 2.8 (+2.

Lab	1492	1512	1559	1819
SNP	1170	1203	1260	1356
Con	659	674	744
UKIP	233	247
Green	104

Lab gain from SNP

Good result for the Tories there.

[doktorb]

Today's byelections

NORTH KESTEVEN - Sleaford Quarrington & Mareham (Independent resigned)

2011 - Con 1014/863/813, Ind 941/698, Lincs Ind 611
2007 - Con 910/820/795, LD 624, Ind 623/169

Nigel GRESHAM (Independent)
Mark SUFFIELD (Lincolnshire Independent - Sleaford)
Garry TITMUS (The Conservative Party Candidate)

NORTH KESTEVEN - Sleaford Westholme (Independent resigned)

2011 - Ind 581, Con 150
2007 - Ind 413, Con 164, Ind 76

Steve FIELDS (Lincolnshire Independents - Sleaford)
Robert GREETHAM (Labour)
Andrew RAYNER (Conservative and Unionist Party)

ROTHER - Collington (Independent resigned)

2011 - Ind 1096/1034, Con 871/819, Lab 239
Jun 2008 by - Con 893, LD 216, Lab 78
2007 - Con 1159/1158, LD 497
2003 - Con 1071/974, LD 575

Alan BEARNE (Labour Party Candidate)
Philip MOORE (UKIP)
Douglas OLIVER (Independent)
Gillian WHEELER (The Conservative Party Candidate)

Read more: http://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/4318/elections-12th-june-2014#ixzz34QOIYb4c

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Apologies from your columnist for the lack of coverage of last week's by-elections in Newark (Conservative hold) and Clydesdale South (Labour gain from SNP).  We hope to return to normal by covering three by-elections on 12th June 2014, which are all independent defences.

COLLINGTON, Rother district council, East Sussex; caused by the resignation of Independent councillor John Lee for personal reasons.

The Collington ward can be found in the south coast town of Bexhill-on-Sea, and effectively covers the western end of the town's seafront around Collington railway station, which lies on the Hastings-Eastbourne line.  Fiction has portrayed Bexhill as some sort of nightmarish place; in the 2006 film Children of Men it was a refugee camp for immigrants, and even Spike Milligan's memoirs depict a wartime Bexhill which Milligan's company had the task of defending without any ammunition for their big guns (training on the big guns involved much shouting of the word BANG).  The truth is very different, with the town being a ghetto not for quarantined refugees but for pensioners, who retire here from London to be near the seaside.  This ambience has also attracted more than a fair share of celebrities to the town, and reportedly both Fanny Cradock and Graham Norton live or have lived in the ward.

The Conservatives had a lock on this ward throughout the Noughties, with only a single Lib Dem providing opposition to the Tory slate in 2003 and 2007 and the Tories crushing the Lib Dems and Labour in a June 2008 by-election.  But things changed in 2011 when an independent slate took both seats in the ward, and last year UKIP gained one of the Conservative seats in the county division covering the ward.  That suggests that this by-election could be very unpredictable.

The new independent candidate is Douglas Oliver.  Gillian Wheeler, the winner of the 2008 by-election who lost her seat in 2011, stands for the Conservatives.  Alan Bearne is Labour's candidate, and UKIP's Philip Moore completes the ballot paper.

Parliamentary constituency: Bexhill and Battle
East Sussex county council division: Bexhill King Offa
ONS Travel to Work Area: Hastings

May 2011 result Ind 1096/1034 C 871/819 Lab 239
June 2008 by-election C 893 LD 216 Lab 78
May 2007 result C 1159/1158 LD 497
May 2003 result C 1071/974 LD 575

Alan Bearne (Lab)
Philip Moore (UKIP)
Douglas Oliver (Ind)
Gillian Wheeler (C)


SLEAFORD QUARRINGTON AND MAREHAM, and SLEAFORD WESTHOLME, North Kesteven district council, Lincolnshire; caused by the resignations of Independent councillors Ian Dolby and Brian Watson respectively.  Dolby has resigned ostensibly to spend more time on his accountancy firm, although he has also been a controversial figure; last year a judge ordered him to repay over £3,000 which he had withheld from a client, and he was arrested in December 2013 on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children (he is currently on bail).  Watson, a former Labour councillor who has served on North Kesteven district council since winning a by-election in 1996 and was Mayor of Sleaford in 2013/4, is suffering from poor health.

One of the fen towns in which southern Lincolnshire specialises, Sleaford goes back to Roman times, and became a major agricultural centre in the eighteenth century with the canalising of the River Slea to create the Sleaford Navigation.  The railways came here in 1857, and Sleaford is still a railway junction, with lines from Peterborough to Lincoln and from Grantham to Skegness meeting here.  Hubbard's seeds and Bass maltings were major employers, as was administration; from 1888 to 1974 Sleaford was the county town of the Parts of Kesteven.

The town is covered by five wards.  Sleaford Quarrington and Mareham is a three-member ward covering the town's southern fringe, while Sleaford Westholme is a single-member ward covering a small part of the north-west of the town.

Quarrington and Mareham ward was introduced in boundary changes for the 2007 election and is the successor to the former single-member wards of Sleaford Mareham (which was Lib Dem in 2003) and Sleaford Quarrington (which voted Conservative that year).  The Conservatives won all three seats at the inaugural 2007 election but lost one of them to Dolby in 2011.  Sleaford Westholme ward has returned Watson at every election this century with steadily increasing majorities; in 2003 he was returned as a Labour councillor under slightly different boundaries.

Westholme ward is primarily part of the Sleaford county division, which in a highly fragmented result in 2013 saw the well-organised Lincolnshire Independents county council group top the poll with less than 28% of the vote, gaining the seat from the Conservatives who were second with 22%.  A small fringe of the Westholme ward, and half of the Quarrington and Mareham ward, is part of the Sleaford West and Leasingham county division in which the Tories comfortably held off UKIP last year.

The new independent candidate in Quarrington and Mareham ward is Nigel Gresham, who runs a printing and sign-writing company; he is the chairman of the committee which successfully revived the Sleaford Carnival last year.  The Conservative candidate is Gary Titmus, who unsuccessfully fought this ward in the 2011 district elections and Sleaford in the 2013 county elections.  Also standing is Mark Suffield for the Lincolnshire Independents, fresh from winning a by-election to Sleaford town council in September last year.

In Westholme ward there is no independent candidate to succeed Watson, although there is another Lincolnshire Independents candidate, kiosk owner Steve Fields.  The Tories are standing Andrew Rayner, who runs an internet marketing company, and the Labour candidate is Robert Greetham, who stood in the 2011 district elections (for Kirkby la Thorpe and South Kyme ward) as a Lib Dem candidate.

Sleaford Quarrington and Mareham
Parliamentary constituency: Sleaford and North Hykeham
Lincolnshire county council division: Sleaford (part); Sleaford West and Leasingham (part)
ONS Travel to Work Area: Lincoln

May 2011 result C 1014/863/813 Ind 941/698 LincsInd 611
May 2007 result C 910/820/795 LD 624 Ind 623/169

Nigel Gresham (Ind)
Mark Suffield (LincsInd)
Gary Titmus (C)

Sleaford Westholme
Parliamentary constituency: Sleaford and North Hykeham
Lincolnshire county council division: Sleaford (part); Sleaford West and Leasingham (part)
ONS Travel to Work Area: Lincoln

May 2011 result Ind 581 C 150
May 2007 result Ind 413 C 164 Ind 76

Steve Fields (LincsInd)
Robert Greetham (Lab)
Andrew Rayner (C)