I came fairly close to being the only directly-elected Welsh Liberal Democrat (WLD) in the round of elections just completely. I failed to regain a seat on Coedffranc community council by just two votes. (A link to the offficial declaration of the by-election should appear here.)
Elsewhere in Wales, WLD vote plunged where we have done well traditionally - by over 20 percentage points in Brecon & Radnor and Montgomery, for instance. If our leader, Jane Dodds, had not managed fourth place on the Mid-Wales list, she would surely have to resign for this performance. As it is, serious questions will be asked at this year's AGM and I will not be surprised if the party launches an inquiry before that.
If asked, I will venture as my opinion that we have still not shaken off in Wales the memory of Nick Clegg and co. aquiescing in the Osborne austerity of 2011, especially agreeing to endorse the Welfare Act. We should have re-established our unique identity as a party of freedom, justice and fairness, not beholden to rich donors from right or left. We looked just like another party, with a main slogan which was little different from the Conservative offering. Nor did Jane appeal to the electorate as a personality, though one hopes that will change with more exposure in broadcasts from the Senedd.
Distancing myself from the national campaign and instead campaigning on my own record almost came off. The success of local campaigners in England is encouraging:
We have already seen the Liberal Democrats gain seats from both Labour and the Conservatives, with BBC’s Projected National Share of vote putting us on 17%.
We have put the Tory’s Blue Wall seats on notice with big gains in the South of England, whilst Lib Dems in the North have made inroads against Labour.
We are up on votes, up on seats and up on councils run.
We have gained St. Albans City and District Council, and other gains have seen us oust Conservatives from running Councils in Cambridgeshire and Tunbridge Wells.
Lib Dems have held Cheltenham, Eastleigh, Mole Valley, Watford and Winchester Councils
Lib Dems have taken control of Amersham Town Council with eight out of 15 Councilors.
- There was an incredible eight gains in Oxfordshire to give us 21 seats, leaving the Tories out of control.
Great progress in Wokingham (+3), Guildford (+2) and Surrey (+5) as we took two seats from the Conservatives.
The Lib Dems gained in Devon as we claimed three council seats from the Tories and are now the official opposition party.
- We've had a big result against the Conservatives, ousting them on Cambridgeshire County Council with 5 gains. We also picked up seats on the District Council in what is a great result for the Liberal Democrats.
We have made gains from them in Kent, Lincolnshire, Surrey and Essex.
In the North we have gained seats in areas such as Sunderland (+4), Barnsley (+3), and as well as becoming the largest party on Stockport Council. We have also made gains in Rotherham (+3).
We have gained 3 seats in Sheffield against Labour to push the Council into No Overall Control.
We also bested Labour in Hull - winning the popular vote by 1400 and with 10 seats to Labour’s 9.
In Barnsley we made gains, adding three councillors to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Lib Dems made another three seat gains on Rotherham Borough Council.
And there was a good result in Woking where we made two gains overall and ousted a sitting Tory mayor.
We have a chance of making similar advances in Welsh local elections next year. There is still talent at the local party level which should be given its head with no micro-management from the national party.
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