Many Lib Dems up and down the country are feeling crushed today. Many have lost their jobs, or know people who have. We knew this election would be hard, but the results for us are worse than the worst expectations. There are now only 8 Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons. This result [...]
The count for Birkdale was much delayed and for a while we couldn't understand why until a super sleuth journalist got to the bottom of the story. Apparently a couple of UKIP guests to the count had arrived, and it being their first count didn't know the procedure. They proceeded to sit down at the Birkdale table and for some time helped to count the votes. Upon discovery we had to start all over again and had the equivalent of four recounts as they struggled to reconcile the votes. This count had the tightest 'security' I have ever encountered: letters, ...
While I was away in Liverpool something rather wonderful happened. A film about the Spencer Davis Group from 1966 appeared on Youtube. After shots of them running (geddit?!) it features an interview with a genteel sounding Spencer Davis intercut with Steve Winwood playing the amazing Stevie's Blues. David admits he enjoys being a pop star, but he also accepts that Winwood will move on one day. He did the following year, and Davis's days in the charts were over. The film turns out to come from a series called A Whole Scene Going and was broadcast on 16 March 1966. ...
If Ed Balls' seat was under threat, what were all those activists doing in Sheffield Hallam?— Atul Hatwal (@atulh) May 8, 2015Atul Hatwal from Labour Uncut asked a good question. Several Liberal Democrats tweeted yesterday evening that Labour activists were delighted when the Tories defeated a Liberal Democrat minister. Well, we all get excited at counts, but this does rather suggest that Labour's hatred of us Lib Dems was warping their judgement. Could it be that they got so excited by the prospect of defeating Nick Clegg that they neglected Ed Balls seat elsewhere in Yorkshire? This would have been ...
[IMG: Mayor Dave Hodgson] Brilliant result for Dave Hodgson: Result of the 1st round of the Bedford Mayoral Election LD 25282 Con 19417 Lab 15931 Indy 12883 UKIP 7060 LD and CON to 2nd round — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) May 8, 2015
What a bitter, bitter night for the Liberal Democrats, for the Union and for our future as a member of the European Union. And though it is easy for us to blame 5 years of unrelenting misplaced mud-slinging from Labour and the left, I think it is important that those of us who believe in liberal values take stock of what has happened more carefully. After the defeat of Labour at the 2010 election they immediately moved into questioning the legitimacy of coalitions and into navel-gazing as they fought the leadership contest that gave them Ed Miliband. They did not ...
So, where do we go from here? Nobody saw that coming, nobody! A shock, Tory Majority victory that confounded pollsters and commentators alike, David Cameron must have been the happiest man on the planet yesterday. But, I was left confused, confused as to where to go next. For those who know me and for those&ellipsis;Read the full post »
In the face of difficult conditions and regular negative predictions, Liberal Democrats remained strong, united and determined throughout the campaign, and our activists worked their socks off. The result was beyond our worst imaginings, and did scant justice to the years of dedicated service to their community and our party by our MPs and workers, let alone to their tremendous efforts during the campaign itself. No doubt at all, going into coalition with the Tories in 2010 was the cause of the disaster, but we acted out of concern for the good of the country. Our action then delivered five ...
It's happened. Lets not dwell on the outcome any longer than we need to, and let us straight away focus on rebuilding and re-energising our party. In his resignation speech and email to members, Nick Clegg spoke eloquently about the values of, and the need for, Liberalism. Whilst he never adequately articulated it during his leadership, his successor needs to proselytize with vigour, not just to an electorate that has never really understood what Liberalism is, but also to party members that need reminding what we are for. The successful candidate must be social liberal in his outlook. He must ...
The last 40 hours have been tough and indeed I have yet to sleep (note to self never travel all day following a General Election ever again). Firstly I'd like to thank the 1370 people in the Sedgefield constituency who put their trust in me yesterday to vote for me to serve as their MP, sadly we needed many more to think the same way. Especially the one individual who said that me responding to a tweet from them on eve of poll was enough to secure their vote. I'd like to also thank my agent Ian Barnes for all ...
My starting point is my posting of 24th May 2014:- The centre left of politics in England put up two blokes whom the electorate thought were not credible – Miliband and Clegg. Both should have gone a year or more ago. The Lib Dems and Labour Party will regret that they said it would be alright on the night; it was not! More thoughts when I have had some sleep!!!!
The voters have spoken and their verdict must be respected, but now that the Conservatives are no longer being restrained and moderated by the Liberal Democrats, how will they behave? The first clues come in two pieces in today's Independent. In the first, the paper reports that the long-delayed "Snooper's Charter" allowing increased interception of communications by the security services and the police is set to be introduced at last. Theresa May, the reappointed Home Secretary wants to give the security services more freedom to intercept Britons' communications data. In fact the Communications Data Bill has been awaiting introduction in ...
Lib Dem council candidate Graham Greenhalgh was victorious in Cheadle and Gatley, where he succeeds Pam King with a majority of 454 over the Conservatives. The Lib Dems remain the largest party on Stockport Council. We lost three seats the Tories (Stepping Hill, Marple North and Marple South) and gained one when former Labour councillor Laura Booth joined us. That leaves the number of seats on Stockport council for each party as: Lib Dems 26 Labour 21 Conservatives 13 Independent Ratepayers 3 [IMG: C&G result 2015]
Earlier this evening, Tom Nuttall, who writes the Charlemagne column for the Economist, moderated a round table debate in Oslo's Litteraturhuset (Literature House). The panel, made up of four liberal politicians from Austria, Estonia, the Netherlands and Norway, were asked to respond to the reference in Nick Clegg's resignation speech, in which he noted that European liberalism is under threat. Trine Skei Grande MP, Leader of Venstre, our hosts, spoke about the importance of being relevant in national politics. We need to renew our policies in the light of technology and its potential impact on our civil liberties. She was ...
Firstly we all need to take a few days off. Losing so many of our MPs is incredibly painful – when we know how they were champions of liberalism, as well as great local representatives. It's easy for us to post-rationalise our problems to fit our existing prejudices, but smarter to take a short break. Secondly we shouldn't assume that everything winners do is good, and everything losers do is stupid. There are doubtless many things we did wrong, but not everything we did was wrong. Equally while we may have been hit hard by the other parties, we shouldn't ...
ALDC members have been sharing results and stories from today's local election counts over in the ALDC Facebook Group. The BBC is maintaining a comprehensive list of local election results for all parties. On the whole, our local results have proven much more resilient than the parliamentary results initially indicated. Examples so far (6pm Friday) include: Eight [...]
So after three years of flying a little lost and solo, I have decided to once more join the Liberal Democrats​. You may find this surprising in light of last night's events. In order to understand why I am once more joining, I must first explain why I initially left. I did not leave because I was ashamed of the Lib Dems joining Cameron in coalition. Joining Labour would not have provided enough seats to form a stable government and a rainbow would have been risky, especially in a time of recession. Furthermore, the Tories were the largest party as ...
I can't write today. Too angry, too sad, too worried. Instead, have some music that sums up my very complicated mixture of despair and determination to fight back: Tracklisting: The Land Song — George Hardy Winter of 79 — Tom Robinson Band No Matter Who You Vote For, The Government Always Gets In — The [...]
Some of the more interesting takes on the election: My traumatised Liberal Democrat party must rediscover its radical heart – David Boyle on the way forward for the party Random thoughts on the election – James Graham has a few of them Three more years of Cameron - but it will be a rocky road ahead – Very interesting analysis and prediction from the LSE's Patrick Dunleavy The vision thing – "is it possible to combine both popularity and intellectual coherence?" asks Chris Dillow Back from the election – Anthony Wells looks at what the polls might have got wrong ...
In the course of the mid twentieth century the Liberal Party, that great organ of the Victorian state was destroyed. In his 1935 book, "The Strange Death of Liberal England", George Dangerfield analysed the course of social and political change that had altered the course of the country and in the process destroyed the Liberal Party. Of course the factors that lead to the Liberal eclipse were both long and short term, and as a work of history the book is a commentary on a whole raft of social and political evolution. From the 1960s onward, the Liberal Party began ...
I was a member of the Labour Party, but in the nineteen eighties joined the Social Democratic Party when it split away. In 1983 the Labour Party was committed to leaving the European Union. I saw the SDP as having the pro-European, internationalist outlook that the Labour Party had abandoned. By 1997 I had arrived in the new Liberal Democrat Party after the SDP merged with the Liberals. The Conservative MP for the constituency I was then in, Carshalton and Wallington, produced an interesting leaflet arguing that the Lib Dems were well to the left of "new" Labour. He aimed ...
We need to complete our roll-call of Lib Dem target seats. Tessa Munt lost to the Conservatives in Wells, Andrew George also lost in St Ives, and Julie Pörksen failed to take the seat in Berwick, previously held by Alan Beith. That leaves us with just eight MPs: Nick Clegg Tim Farron Norman Lamb Greg Mulholland Tom Brake John Pugh Mark Williams Alistair Carmichael We do have to congratulate them for bucking the trend, and to wish them all the best in the future as they uphold Lib Dem values in the Commons – but it is difficult for anyone ...
The results are now in both for our local District Council elections here in Bar Hill and for the South Cambridgeshire seat at Westminster. Local results first; HALL, Roger (Con) 1,300 GREEN, Helene (UKIP) 530 SMITH, Alexander (Labour) 443 DELDERFIELD, Clare (Lib Dem) 315 ROLAND, Claudia (Green) 265 Cambridge News has full coverage of the district council election results for South Cambridgeshire on their website; Here are the results for South Cambridgeshire Parliamentary constituency; ALLEN, Heidi Suzanne (Con) 31,454 GREEF, Daniel James (Labour) 10,860 KINDERSLEY, Sebastian Gerald Molesworth (Lib Dem) 9,368 MASON, Marion Ann (UKIP) 6,010 SAGGERS, Simon Peter ...
[IMG: Lib Dems winning here] I wrote this for The Times's Red Box blog this morning. It was published under the heading 'Lib Dems died the moment they joined the coalition' – not quite what I wrote, but not so far off the mark... Numbed disbelief. That's how Lib Dems have been feeling ever since 10pm when the official exit poll first revealed how bad a night it was going to be for my party. 10 seats? That couldn't be right, we thought. And it turns out it wasn't. We did worse: 8 MPs. Not even the most pessimistic, Coalition-hating, ...
As I get people coming here looking for them, I'll post them as I get them so the post will be updated as the evening goes on. Click here for the General Election result. Berechurch: Labour (Dave Harris) 1,958, Conservative 858, UKIP 521, LD 406, Green 152 Birch and Winstree: Conservative (Andrew Ellis) 1,913, UKIP 569, LD 291, Lab 287, Green 145 Castle: Conservative (Darius Laws) 1667, LD 1172, Green 982, Labour 821 Christ Church: Conservative (Annesley Hardy) 964, LD 670, Labour 433, Green 319, UKIP 148 Copford and West Stanway: Conservative (Jackie Maclean) 673, UKIP 177, LD 115, Lab ...
Quick traffic announcement for next week. Between Monday 11 May and Friday 15 May there will be no access onto A14 at either junction 32 or 36. There will also be temporary lane closures on the Eastbound carriageway between junctions 31-32. These closures will be effective between 20:00 and 06:00hrs.
[IMG: Sal Brinton Sal @ Crohns & Colitis Rec _2 CROPPED Nov 13] Here is Party President Sal Brinton's video address to members this afternoon: Here's the text: Since midnight last night it has become clear that this election has thrown us the challenge of a lifetime. Despite the enormous amount of effort from members and supporters, our Parliamentary party has been reduced to eight and we have lost more councillors too. In addition of course Nick Clegg has announced he will be resigning as leader. We all owe an immense debt of gratitude to Nick for his leadership of ...
Blog Categories: Economics Political Comment Vote: 2 votes + Vote up! - Vote down! So the orgy of voting violence has subsided, the army of apparatchiks (including some conscripts it would appear) has worked through the night to ensure your choice of which gang should impose your will on the rest of us is slowly, tantalisingly, revealed and the peaceful transition of control of the monopoly of force can take place. The speeches are fading away taking many of their orators with them. And no doubt, in a day of comment and hopefully not too much recrimination just yet, this ...
[IMG: Hufflepuff Hat (anneheathen - http://www.flickr.com/people/52066925@N00)] The General Election result - frankly most results for the last five years - was terrible for the Liberal Democrats. Down to 8 MPs, it would be easy to give up on the Liberal Democrats, on liberalism. But I'm not going to do that. Like many other people in this country, I'm angry. I'm angry because - although I had real doubts at the time - the Lib Dems stepped up and helped deliver stable Government for the last five years. But not just stable Government: the worst excesses of the Conservatives (excesses we'll ...
Lib Dem Lynne Beaumont has thanked all those who campaigned and voted for her in Folkestone and Hythe at the General Election. Despite a strong campaign, in line with the terrible results for the Liberal Democrats nationally, the Lib Dems came fourth behind the Conservatives, UKIP and Labour. Lynne said: "It's a really hard day locally and nationally: one of the hardest. I want to say thank you to all those who supported my campaign in any way, and for all the wonderful messages of support during the campaign. To the Lib Dem members and campaigners who made my campaign ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg A1] I always expected this election to be exceptionally difficult for the Liberal Democrats, given the heavy responsibilities we have had to bear in government in the most challenging of circumstances. But clearly the results have been immeasurably more crushing and unkind than I could ever have feared. For that, of course, I must take responsibility and therefore I announce that I will be resigning as leader of the Liberal Democrats. A leadership election will now take place according to the party's rules. Our President, Sal Brinton, will be in touch with you later on today with ...
A display featuring images and further information about proposals for Central Library to include an enterprise centre is now available online and in the entrance of the library. A public meeting about the proposals will take place on Wednesday 6 May. Councillors agreed in April at the General Purposes Committee to refer a decision on proposals for an enterprise centre back to the Highways and Community Infrastructure Committee in June. The Library Review consultation period has also been extended to 10 May in order to give residents more time to comment on proposals set out in a strategy for the ...
The sun is shining here in Oslo, although a brisk wind is bringing in some rather less attractive cloud. And, as I sit here, on the edge of the battlements of the Akershus Fortress, it is perhaps appropriate to send condolences to those who have lost their seats today, and to those whose jobs have suddenly disappeared - researchers, agents, constituency staff. All of them have given their best for our Party, for its beliefs and for liberalism, and regardless of what we may think of the past five years, they did it for what they thought was for the ...
Pretty much everything that can be said, has been said, by Mark Littlewood in the Telegraph today: Nick Clegg has spent five years trying to appeal to no one. His party has paid the price. In their worst nightmares, the Liberal Democrats surely never believed they would meet with such total catastrophe at the ballot box. Even as he held his own seat, against the expectations of many, Nick Clegg looked a broken and defeated man. Results are still trickling in, but the exit poll - ridiculed by Lib Dem high command on Thursday evening - indicating a tally of ...
It often seems that the political left here in Britain wants to take Britain back to the 1970s, with its nationalised industries, high taxes and free ways with government money. In one respect they will have their wish after yesterday's General Election. The Liberal Democrats have been more or less destroyed as a political force – reduced to their state in the 1970s, leaving English and Welsh politics mainly a battle between the Conservative and Labour parties. That the left were still trounced, even with the Lib Dems disposed of, may give leftists pause for reflection, though. They should not ...
I was appointed secretary of my WI branch at our AGM yesterday, and the parish council has taken up my suggestion that they put some bike stands in the village square. The hedgerows hold cascades of spring wild-flowers, the fields are full of ewes with their lambs and the swallows are back overhead. You see, [...]
Nick Clegg has said that he needs to take responsibility for the "crushing" election result for the Liberal Democrats and he resigned with great dignity. He said that the election had been crushing, much more so than he expected and he had to take responsibility for that. He then went on to quote Edinburgh Western candidate Alex Cole Hamilton's tweet after the 2011 Scottish election. Alex said that if the price of his defeat was that no child would spend a night in an immigration detention centre again, then he accepted it with all his heart. Nick gave a passionate ...
Right, first of all a quick video response to recent events: Last night (and this morning) was the most bitter political experience of my life. It was made worse by the fact that I, like most Lib Dems, thought I was braced and prepared for the worst. At 10pm, when the exit poll was broadcast, [...]
[IMG: Nick Clegg resigns as Liberal Democrat leader] Nick Clegg has done the right thing in resigning promptly as party leader – and by following it immediately with heartfelt thanks to the hard work so many have put in for the party over the last few years. There may not be many Liberal Democrat MPs now, but there is more than one plausible leadership contender, and we should have more than one. Because the lesson from other parties in the past applies now to the Liberal Democrats: when you have big issues to settle, you need a properly contested leadership ...
I've spotted a few people landing here after googling for the result, so here it is. Will Quince (Conservative) 18,919 Bob Russell (Liberal Democrat) 13,344 Jordan Newell (Labour) 7,852 John Pitts (UKIP) 5,870 Mark Goacher (Green) 2499 Ken Scrimshaw (Christian People's Alliance) 109 That's a 100% swing for me from contented to gutted. The local elections aren't counted until later this afternoon, and I'll post those results as I get them – they'll also be on the Colchester Borough Council website, and I recommend Colchester Chronicle's website and Twitter feed for live coverage. Click here for the Colchester Council local ...
You follow a political party because you agree with its policies. You become an activist for that party because you share in its vision. You put yourself on the line standing to represent that party because you want to enthuse the core values of that party into the lives of everyone. Thus is was that 630 fellow Liberal Democrats and I lay it all on the line yesterday in the 2015 General Election. Some like Simon Hughes and Charles Kennedy had given years of service to get those values into their constituencies, improving their constituents lives and when they could ...
Seventy years ago today Britain celebrated the end of the Second World War in Europe. Easter must have been late that year because, aged seven, I was with my parents on our Whitsuntide holiday in Scarborough and can remember wandering with them and family friends through the streets singing a pop song, the opening words of which were: "Let him go, let him tarry let him sink or let him swim" and ending with the declaration that somebody or other was going to ". . .marry a far nicer boy." There was outside the station a mini-obelisk which was illuminated ...
Coming into tonight, if I was honest, I figured it was going the Tories' way. Miliband's refusal to admit that Labour had overspent on Question Time added to the five pledges stone monument made you think that Labour had blown it. But I never thought they'd be down below 240. Or that the Tories would get a majority. No one thought that, remember? The only way the Conservatives could possibly get that is if they completely wiped out the Lib Dems. Oh. I suppose from a Lib Dem perspective, can it now be deemed a mistake to have gone into ...
Whilst most of you will either be at your count (and good luck to you all!) or sitting in front of a television set or a computer watching the results come in, your correspondent will be in a hotel room in Oslo. Yes, it's time once again for liberals from across Europe to gather and tell the British how sorry they are for the result/share the love and tell us things will get better/express surprise at how well we did (delete as appropriate). And despite exhaustion and uncertainty, a small, depleted and wholly male delegation will be there to fly ...
Where do I begin? How and where do we being to fight back? David Boyle has at least begun to map the problems we face by describing what has happened to the Liberal Democrats in recent years: I remember how thrilled I was to sweep through a neighbourhood delivering Focus leaflets with 20 or so other young people, at a jog. We believed in the inevitability of the cause - to take power in order to give it away. We felt like the political wing of the counterculture that grew up at the same time. Since then, I've watched those ...
The Liberal Revival has been woven through my life, and especially my adult life. I wrote this in the early hours of this morning for the Guardian Comment section.
People vote for all sorts of reasons. Some vote as to who they want to be the local MP. Others vote as to who they wish to see as the prime minister and there can be combinations in between. The postal votes in Yardley which were cast about two weeks before polling day gave me 40%, but on the night I only got just over 25%. This has happened previously. I had been for some time of the view
[IMG: War of the Words HG Wells exhibion logo] The Chairman and Parish Councillors invite you to attend two annual meetings that will take place next Tuesday: Sandgate's Annual Parish Meeting and the Annual Parish Council Meeting - both in the Sandgate Library/Council Office. At the end of the second meeting, there will be drinks and a light finger buffet. The Annual Parish Meeting will commence at 6pm. Two speakers have been invited: Euan Williamson will speak about Sandgate Society's plans for working with the parish in 2015-16 and David Cowell will update on the future plans for the HG ...
[IMG: Wedding rings] In amongst all the pain there have been a few moments of light relief for Liberal Democrats. Ed Balls losing, George Galloway losing. Mike Hancock getting a measly 2%. Nigel Farage losing. But these are just a bit of brief light relief on the side. More substantive pleasure – and pride – can be taken in some of what Liberal Democrats achieved by being in government over the last five years. There'll be much to debate about this, but whatever views people come to, some achievements should stand out. Above all, same-sex marriage – letting people who ...
The War of the Triple Alliance, in which Paraguay fought, and lost to, the combined forces of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, saw the male population of Paraguay reduced by 70%. As a Liberal Democrat this morning, it feels a lot like that at the moment. And, of course, it isn't over yet. There are still local elections to be counted and it would be naive to expect any encouragement from those. So, what now? What can, or should, Liberal Democrats do? Firstly, don't panic. Yes, it's bad, yes, it's awful. There is no consolation sufficient to shelter behind. But, despite ...
Reminder: as long as you express a CLEAR preference, it doesn't HAVE to be an X in the box (tags: ) Hackney residents lose vote despite registering before deadline - :( (tags: ) What Clegg, Miliband, Farage and Cameron taste like: the synaesthesia vote - in pictures (tags: ) How the media tried to make your general election choice for you (tags: ) Dogs at polling stations just can't get enough democracy (tags: ) The British press has lost it - POLITICO (tags: ) Weird and wonderful polling stations - in pictures (tags: ) Is it illegal to tweet how ...
I'd like to say thank you for the welcome I've received as I have helped in various constituencies since January. I've worked hard in my home constituency of Newbury and also delivered leaflets, canvassed or made donations in Portsmouth South, Oxford West and Abingdon, Somerton and Frome, North Cornwall, North Devon, Sheffield Hallam, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Colchester, Gordon, Ross,Skye and Lochaber, Torbay. I am sorry for the disappointing results. It's been great fun meeting other Lib Dems and getting out into the fresh air. At this rather distressing time we must remember the good things in life: family, friends, ...
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention this week... Has Ed Miliband got something clever up his sleeve? – Spectator Blogs Might a hung p'ment actually deliver real constit reform? "Has Ed Miliband got something clever up his sleeve?" http://bit.ly/1dQr5kA Lib Dem blogger pledge 'to run naked down Whitehall' – BBC News I'm more confident my "naked Whitehall pledge" won't need to be honoured than I suspect Dan is http://bbc.in/1PrzCG9 Election 2015: What is the exit poll and how does it work? | May2015: 2015 General Election Guide The 'exit poll' low-down by @may2015ns: they make up ...
There are just two seats with Liberal Democrat interest left to declare and I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we thougth we were going to get anywhere with either of them. Tessa Munt's Wells and Andrew George's St Ives look like they will fall to the Tories. Update: actually 3 – I forgot Berwick. There may be a possibility there, which would be great but I'm not overly hopeful, it has to be said. So, our parliamentary party is: Nick Clegg Tim Farron Norman Lamb Greg Mulholland Tom Brake John Pugh Mark Williams Alistair Carmichael The psychological effects of ...
Well, the SNP have acheived their twin aims of dominance in Scotland and a Tory government in Westminster (does anyone beleive that wasn't their aim?). When I got the email from Nick saying he won't deal with the SNP, I was very annoyed as we shouldn't be ruling out anything as Liberals (and also was secretly harbouring a wish for a Lab/Lib minority government with SNP acquiescence). However I thought he must have seen some terrible internal polling to make him have to say that. When I saw the SNP on the news on eve of poll going on about ...
If you click here, you can download the brochure giving the summer activities at the Mills Observatory. The Head of Cultural Services at Leisure and Culture Dundee has advised that, last month, the parquet flooring on the ground floor of the observatory was refurbished and there was also painting the ground floor walls as a refresh as was done with the first floor last year.
Congratulations to Mary Robinson, the new Conservative MP for Cheadle constituency. I wish her well as our MP. I would like to thank everyone who supported Mark Hunter and the Liberal Democrats through this campaign – we did everything we could to stop Cheadle going to the Conservatives, but like so many former Lib Dem seats across the country, it proved not to be enough. When surveying the scene this morning the word that springs to mind is "bloodbath". Up and down the country, the Lib Dems were targeted by the other parties and, on the night, our MPs were ...
Bloody hell. Reading those dreadful and depressing results this morning have given me all the motivation I need to make sure that I am still around in 2020 to vote again. My congratulations to the small band of Lib Dem MPs who have made it through this time, and my heartfelt commiserations to the much larger ... Continue reading »
Luke Hall has taken Thornbury and Yate parliamentary seat for the Conservatives, with a majority of 1495. The full results of the parliamentary election are as follows: HALL Luke Anthony - Conservative 19,924 ELECTEDHAMILTON Iain Adams - Green 1,316MARTIN Russ - UKIP 5,126ROBERTS Hadleigh Vaughan - Labour 3,775WEBB Steven John - Liberal Democrats 18,429The majority was 1495. We congratulate Luke Hall and hope that he will be as good an MP for our constituency as Steve Webb has been.
One of these days I'm going to start believing exit polls. I thought the 2010 one was wrong as there was no way we'd lose seats, and when tonight's came out I joined in the chorus of people who thought there was no way it could be the correct result. If anything, it now seems to have underestimated the number of Tory seats, I'm doing an exam about public opinion and polling a week on Monday. Might be time to shred a whole bunch of my notes and just scrawl 'nobody knows anything' across the paper, as that seems to ...
Charles Kennedy had to concede defeat by the SNP after representing in the wonderfully named constituency of Ross, Skye and Lochaber for 32 years. He will be sorely missed. And we have lost another much valued minister in Steve Webb in Thornbury and Yate. David Laws lost his traditional LibDem seat in Yeovil while Danny Alexander crashed in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey. Mike Crockart lost Edinburgh West, so did Simon Wright in Norwich South, John Hemming in Birmingham Yardley, Dan Rogerson in North Cornwall, Julian Huppert in Cambridge, Lorely Burt in Solihull, John Leech in Manchester Withington, Steve Gilbert ...
Contrary to some rumours Nick Clegg held on to his seat, but with a reduced majority. The biggest shock of the hour was Vince Cable's result in Twickenham where he was beaten by the Conservatives. But there were more staggering losses of wonderful campaigning Liberal Democrats. Simon Hughes was beaten in Bermondsey and Lynne Featherstone in Hornsey and Wood Green, both by Labour. Adrian Sanders (Torbay), Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) and Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam) all succumbed to the Tories. And in Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine Robert Smith lost to the SNP. Steve Bradley was unsuccessful in Bath, following Don ...
We thought the exit poll of 10 seats for the Lib Dems was wrong Now we are struggling to see how we will get there, to ten * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and blogs at Liberal Burblings.
I am not going to pretend this has been a good night for the Liberal Democrats, not nationally or locally. But first let me congratulate Philip Dunne for winning a third term of office with an increased majority. Philip Dunne Conservative Party 54% 26,093 David Kelly UK Independence Party 15% 7,164 Charlotte Barnes Liberal Democrats [...]
Tim Farron is back in Parliament, safely elected in his Westmorland & Lonsdale constituency, and so is Alistair Carmichael in Orkney & Shetland who safely resisted the SNP advance. But sadly we have lost Ed Davey in Kingston & Surbiton (to the Conservatives), Jenny Willott in Cardiff Central (to Labour), Duncan Hames in Chippenham and Mike Thornton in Eastleigh. We also lost three seats that we were defending after the incumbant had retired – Redcar, Brent Central and North East Fife. Follow the election night live blog here. * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
The Independent reports: George Galloway has been reported to the police after allegedly reposting a message on Twitter about an exit poll before voting had finished, it has been reported. The Respect candidate for Bradford West may have contravened the law preventing the early publication of exit polls after retweeting a message regarding early exit polls from the constituency. The tweet was later deleted from Mr Galloway's account, while the account it was originally posted from also appeared to have been taken down. Bradford Council's returning officer has now reported Mr Galloway to police. Perhaps he should have been a ...
In three minutes I will have been up for twenty-four hours straight, almost all of that campaigning for the Lib Dems, or helping distraught fellow Lib Dems cope. I see we now have at least two MPs. Good. Two is enough for a leadership election. Starting tomorrow, we will regroup. The Liberal Democrats have been [...]
The first good news of the night came when Mark Williams held on to his seat in Ceredigion. Then sadly we lost Jo Swinson in Denbartonshire East (to the SNP), and both Bob Russell in Colchester and Roger Williams in Brecon & Radnorshire (both to the Tories). Gordon Birtwhistle was beaten by Labour in Burnley. Follow the election night live blog here. * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
Ouch. In Liberal Democrat Newswire #64 I wrote: Saving a sudden invasion of elastic eating alien microbes which cause an outbreak of wardrobe malfunctions during Returning Officer results announcements, the most embarrassing result - for the media and most political pundits - will be if the pollster who is usually right at election time is right again. ICM, the pollster with consistent form over multiple general elections, has painted a pretty clear and consistent picture: the Conservatives ahead in the polls by a few points since mid-February. Nor are they they only pollster to have painted such a picture of ...
More rumours and despondency. Apparently Nigel Farage didn't really want to win in South Thanet this time round; it was just a step in his strategy for 2020. And John Curtice is suggesting that there is a serious possibility of a Conservative majority. Follow the election night live blog here. * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
No news of Lib Dem seats yet, but plenty of predictions and rumours that are not encouraging. The BBC's exit poll would leave us with just 10 MPs, all male. A Leadership election would be triggered, but the choice of Leader would be severely restricted because many of the big hitters would have lost their seats. Too many lost deposits already. Not looking good. Our live election blog is here. * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
We've had three results and the House of Commons is currently 100% female. The BBC/ITV/Sky exit poll gave us 10 seats. Paddy has said he will eat his hat if that exit poll is true. Nigel Farage is rumoured to have come third in Thanet South. There is a rumour that Danny Alexander has lost his seat. George Galloway is rumoured to have lost his seat in Bradford. Our live election blog is here. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and blogs at Liberal ...
