Congrats to Tim Farron on becoming the new leader of the Lib Dems. One of our Rayleigh members emailed us to say:
Just coming back from Islington Assembly Hall where saw our new Lib Dem leader give a rousing speech to a packed hall of cheering supporters. Very emotional, very uplifting.
And we are off to a great start, with three council by-election wins in England and Wales last night:
We had a sensational gain from Labour in Wrexham:
LDEM – 52.2% (+52.2)
LAB – 26.3% (-24.8)
IND – 9.2% (+9.2)
CON – 4.8% (+4.8)
UKIP – 4.5% (+4.5)
IND – 3.1% (+3.1)
We also gained a seat off the Tories in Battle:
LDEM – 57.8% (+10.7)
CON – 26.3% (-11.8)
UKIP – 8.2% (+8.2)
LAB – 7.7% (-7.2)
And we also held a seat in Kingston-upon-Thames despite a strong Conservative challenge:
LDEM – 59.9% (+26.3)
CON – 26.1% (-4.8)
LAB – 8.5% (-14.1)
GRN – 3.3% (-9.7)
UKIP – 2.2% (+2.2)
Pleased to see this, as I was sorry that the Lib Dems paid heavily at the last election for doing the right thing. People stand for election in the hope that they can somehow make a difference. The Lib Dems were given the chance to be part of a government in 2010 and took it, why wouldn’t they? A government of some sort had to be formed and it both made sense and was the most democratic to go with the largest party. Because most government work is done behind the scenes it’s hard to gauge how much difference was made. There were some obvious ones like the personal allowance before tax, which I am very pleased to see is being continued. I see no point in taking tax from someone only to have to give it back in credits because they can not live on their net income.