By-Elections - 19th/20th December 2012

[greatkingrat]

19TH DECEMBER (Wednesday)

NORWICH - Crome (Labour resigned)

2012 - Lab 1272, Con 388, Grn 273, LD 125
2011 - Lab 1450, Con 684, Grn 267, UKIP 217, LD 148
2010 (Sep) - Lab 1085, Con 543, Grn 199, LD 137, UKIP 100
2008 - Lab 954, Con 704, Grn 348, LD 273
2007 - Lab 1110, Con 684, LD 402, Grn 303
2006 - Lab 1058, Con 645, LD 357, Grn 296

Evelyn COLLISHAW (The Conservative Party Candidate)
Judith FORD (Green Party)
Marion MAXWELL (The Labour And Co-operative Party Candidate)
Michael SUTTON-CROFT (Liberal Democrat)
Glenn TINGLE (UK Independence Party)

NORWICH - Nelson (Green resigned)

2012 - Grn 1644, Lab 697, Con 249, LD 173
2011 - Grn 2059, Lab 986, Con 425, LD 288
2010 (Sep) - Grn 1297, Lab 535, LD 198, Con 186
2008 - Grn 1906, Lab 359, LD 356, Con 283
2007 - Grn 1899, LD 518, Lab 397, Con 271
2006 - Grn 1805, LD 523, Lab 353, Con 264

Andrew BOSWELL (Green Party)
Alexandra DAVIES (The Conservative Party Candidate)
Layla DICKERSON (Labour Party Candidate)
Helen WHITWORTH (Liberal Democrat)

SPELTHORNE - Sunbury Common (Liberal Democrat resigned)

2011 - LD 1127/1094/881, Con 528/489/467, UKIP 332
2007 - LD 1122/1087/966, Con 602/545/485, Lab 175
2003 - LD 794/748/644, Con 392/353/334, Lab 185

Bob BROMLEY (UK Independence Party)
Bernie SPOORT (Liberal Democrat)
Matthew WANT (The Conservative Party Candidate)
John WENT (The Labour Party Candidate)

20TH DECEMBER (Thursday)

GRAVESHAM - Meopham North (Conservative died)[/u]

Oct 2011 by - Con 648, UKIP 462, LD 148, Lab 112
2011 - Con 1220/1051, Lab 497/389
Jun 2007 - Con 681/662, LD 200/178, Grn 104, Lab 59/57, Loony 31 (postponed election)
Jan 2004 by - Con 643, Lab 105, LD 58
2003 - Con 892/887, Lab 243/216, Grn 190

Julia BURGOYNE (The Conservative Party Candidate)
Douglas CHRISTIE (The Labour Party Candidate)
Geoffrey CLARK (UKIP)
Martin WILSON (Liberal Democrat)

KENT - Gravesham Rural (Conservative died)

2009 - Con 4109, ED 740, Grn 722, Lab 652, LD 624
2005 - Con 7083, Lab 2691, LD 1291, Grn 561, Loony 235

Douglas CHRISTIE (The Labour Party Candidate)
Geoffrey CLARK (UKIP)
Gill MCGILL (Liberal Democrat)
Bryan SWEETLAND (The Conservative Party Candidate)

[listener]

Gravesham Rural is a safe Conservative seat and the Conservative candidate is Bryan Sweetland.

Bryan Sweetland currently represents the two-member marginal division of Gravesham East on Kent County Council and is the Cabinet Member for the Environment, Highways and Waste.

In the landslide of 2009, Labour held on to only 2 seats in Kent and were swept aside in Gravesham East, but can be expected to make a serious challenge for these two seats next May. The result in Gravesham East on 4 June 2009 was Con 3713/3343, Lab 2321/2296, English Democrats 1425, Green Party 1236, Lib Dems 1010/873, Independent 899.

Presumably he will resign his seat in Gravesham East, leaving a six-month rule vacancy until next May. Technically, I am not sure whether he needs to resign his seat, before being elected to the new seat, or whether he can resign after being safely elected to a second seat.

Bryan Sweetland has lived in the Gravesham Rural division since before 2009.

[AdminSTB]

Has there been a case of a sitting councillor contesting another seat on the same council in a by-election before? I don't recall this ever happening.

[Tony Otim]

Nov 27, 2012 10:08:02 GMT AdminSTB said:

Has there been a case of a sitting councillor contesting another seat on the same council in a by-election before? I don't recall this ever happening.

Was there not one in Slough or Windsor and Maidenhead (possibly Reading?) earlier in the year where a sitting conservative councillor contested a different ward as an independant? I may be remembering that wrong...

[greatkingrat]

Yes, the Baylis & Stoke by-election in Slough. In that case the by-election was on 8th March and the Independent (ex-Tory) candidate's term finished in May anyway.

[Pimpernal]

Nov 27, 2012 10:08:02 GMT AdminSTB said:

Has there been a case of a sitting councillor contesting another seat on the same council in a by-election before? I don't recall this ever happening.

Bit of an abuse of the system really... I am sure it will be mentioned in the election literature...

[Tony Otim]

Nov 27, 2012 13:03:37 GMT Pimpernal said:

Nov 27, 2012 10:08:02 GMT AdminSTB said:

Has there been a case of a sitting councillor contesting another seat on the same council in a by-election before? I don't recall this ever happening.

Bit of an abuse of the system really... I am sure it will be mentioned in the election literature...

Could possibly be spun the other way though - Cllr Sweetland is so attached to his local area where he lives and has done for a number of years that he is giving up his seat elsewhere in order to stand locally, etc...

Well, you get the idea.

[Pimpernal]

leaving the composition of KCC... erm, totally unchanged! About £15,000 for a tory vanity exercise....

[greatkingrat]

The costs of the by-election in Gravesham Rural will be incurred whether Mr Sweetland is a candidate or not. There will be no costs for a by-election in Gravesham East as this will be covered by the six month rule.

[andrea]

Nov 27, 2012 8:25:01 GMT listener said:

In the landslide of 2009, Labour held on to only 2 seats in Kent and were swept aside in Gravesham East, but can be expected to make a serious challenge for these two seats next May. The result in Gravesham East on 4 June 2009 was Con 3713/3343, Lab 2321/2296, English Democrats 1425, Green Party 1236, Lib Dems 1010/873, Independent 899.

Using top candidates, the May 2011 result in wards making up Gravesham East (Central ward; Chalk ward; Riverside ward; Riverview ward; Singlewell ward; Westcourt ward; Whitehill ward) was: Lab 51.9% Con 44.3% LD 3.6% (just 3 wards).

In Rural it was Con 75.9% Lab 24.1%

[Pimpernal]

The Tories seem to be a bit alarmed in meopham - they've just rush-released a leaflet attacking UKIP and our supposed support for Bois Island - shame we've just flooded the area with a leaflet declaring our opposition to Boris Island and support instead for Manston...

We also think we've scored a strategic victory over the Tories by focussing on the County election rather than the Borough election... by tomorrow evening the whole County division will have been leafletted just as the postal votes fall on the mats

[David Ashforth]

Ward maps

NORWICH – Crome

NORWICH – Nelson

SPELTHORNE - Sunbury Common

GRAVESHAM - Meopham North

KENT - Gravesham Rural

[Pete Whitehead]

Its pretty rum and as pimp indicates is a bit of a gift to opposition parties not only in this by-election but also in Gravesend East in May. i bet the other Conservative councillor there is cursing this fellow

[greatkingrat]

I suspect the original plan was to swap seats in 2013. Then the by-election came up and if Mr Sweetland doesn't stand then there will no longer be a vacancy in 2013 for him to move into.

[Pimpernal]

Another panicky Tory leaflet rush released in the Gravesham Rural County election - an A5 almost purely spent attacking UKIP! Cllr Sweetland desperately trying to spin his chicken run - seems the press have run an article locally on his seat swapping! ;D

Also repedalling the lies that UKIP what a Hong Kong style airport in the Thames... Did they not see our leaflet calling for a rejection of Boris Island? The voters certainly did because we're getting calls constantly asking why the Tories are lying about it!

Our final County leaflet is now going out - and it's going to make the Tories look really daft / deceitful...

Over 50% of the postal ballots have been returned in both elections - can the Tories really be about to lose a County seat???

[froome]

The two Norwich wards are amongst the safest wards in the city, so unlikely to see any changes tomorrow. I believe that Nelson ward has had the largest Green majority and largest Green percentage vote of any principal authority ward in the country for at least 6 years.

[tricky]

Nice to see Pimp is so pleased about the UKIP candidate in Meopham.

I didn't realise Pimp supported eugenics quite so enthusiastically.

www.gravesendreporter.co.uk/news/compulsory_abortion_for_down_s_syndrome_foetuses_says_ukip_kent_candidate_1_1745952

I don't really care who wins as long as the UKIP candidate is ground into the dust.

[arnieetc]

For fuck's sake.

[arnieetc]

(I'm sorry for not offering anything more constructive, but sometimes I just despair)

[AdminSTB]

Does UKIP actually have any form of candidate testing or approval? If so, I presume it's not particularly rigorous...

(Lest we forget, the UKIP candidate in Norwich Crome also has a past history of shoving his foot in his mouth: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/england/8660823.stm )