It has been yet another set of record-breaking results for the Liberal Democrats - with our eighth consecutive set of gains in local council elections!
After an incredible campaign - we can all be proud of what we have accomplished as a party over the last few months.
Here’s a rundown of our results 🔽
GAINED control of 4 Councils
East Surrey - gaining 34 councillors for a total of 40 Portsmouth - gaining 3 councillors for a total of 22 Stockport - gaining 2 councillors for a total of 32 West Surrey - gaining 34 councillors for a total of 56
HELD control of 11 Councils
Cheltenham - winning 17 seats this year Eastleigh - winning 14 seats this year Kingston upon Thames - winning 44 seats this year Richmond - winning 54 seats this year South Cambridgeshire - winning 43 seats this year St Albans - winning 19 seats this year Sutton - winning 51 seats this year Tunbridge Wells - winning 11 seats this year Watford - winning 12 seats this year Winchester - winning 13 seats this year Wokingham - winning 12 seats this year
We are also now the largest party in:
Brentwood, Cherwell, Hart, Huntingdonshire, Kingston upon Hull, Milton Keynes, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Sheffield, Three Rivers, West Oxfordshire & West Sussex
And the second largest party in:
Brent, Colchester, Ealing, East Sussex, Fareham, Gateshead, Hampshire, Lincoln, Merton, Norfolk, North East Lincolnshire, Pendle, Preston, Rugby, Sefton, Sunderland, Wakefield & Welwyn Hatfield
HELD the Mayoralty of Watford
GAINED 155 Councillors
Electing 844 Councillors in total.
As well as in the councils we gained control of, we also increased our number of councillors in:
Brent (+8) Bromley (+1) Camden (+6) Cherwell (+4) Croydon (+1) Ealing (+7) East Sussex (+2) Exeter (+1) Hampshire (+9) Haringey (+1) Hart (+1) Hounslow (+1) Huntingdonshire (+10) Isle of Wight (+3) Kensington and Chelsea (+1) Lambeth (+5) Lincoln (+1) Merton (+2)
🔶 Alex Cole-Hamilton re-elected in Edinburgh North Western Lib Dem HOLD
🔶 Adam Harley elected in Strathkelvin and Bearsden GAIN from the SNP
🔶 Andrew Baxter elected in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch GAIN from the SNP
🔶 David Green elected in Caithness, Sutherland & Ross GAIN from the SNP
🔶 Liam McArthur re-elected in Orkney Lib Dem HOLD
🔶 Sanne Dijkstra-Downie elected in Edinburgh Northern GAIN from the SNP
🔶 Willie Rennie re-elected in FIfe North East Lib Dem HOLD
Regions:
🔶 Morven-May MacCallum elected for Highlands and Islands
🔶 Duncan Dunlop elected for South Scotland
🔶 Yi-Pei Chou Turvey elected for North East Scotland
Jane Dodds re-elected to the Welsh Senedd
Jane was re-elected on the Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd list.
🔶 WINNING HERE HEADLINES 🔶
This set of results marks a record-breaking 8 sets of gains in a row for the Liberal Democrats. 🔸 We have beaten the Conservatives for a third year of local elections in a row. 🔸 We now hold every seat on Richmond upon Thames Council (54 out of 54) , having gained 4 seats from the Greens and 1 from the Conservatives, and holding all of our seats. 🔸 We had our best ever result in Sutton, where we gained 22 seats - meaning we now hold 51 of the 55 seats - and have removed all Conservatives from the council. 🔸 Our new MSP in Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Adam Harley, increased our vote share here by 25%, and is the first Liberal Democrat MSP elected in this seat. 🔸 We won every one of the 12 seats being contested in Watford, as well as re-electing Peter Taylor as Mayor.
As Ed Davey said at a rally in Guildford yesterday - in these elections we’ve seen that millions of people want a kind of change that’s about building things up, not burning them down.
And now more than ever, the Liberal Democrats are the only party who are offering that positive change.
While it is clear the public has utterly rejected the old parties of the Conservatives and Labour - the wild promises and the division of the populists of both left and right are not the answer to Britain’s problems.
We now have a huge responsibility to step up and be the rallying point for all in our country who reject extremism and division, want our country to be united, and crave real hope, not false hope.
