2009 Local Elections
Yes I realise the elections are over a year away but it should never be too early for planning to start :P Currently the Liberal Party has three county council seats, 2 in Worcestershire and 1 in Cornwall. With Cornwall becoming a unitary authority next year it is unclear as to what the wards will look like (I believe it'll be announced later in the year). So that leaves Worcestershire: St.Chad's Liberal 1971, 41.33% Conservative 1058, 22.18% Labour 961, 20.15% IKHHC 455, 9.54% Liberal Democrat 324, 6.79% Majority: 913, 19.15% St.Chad's (by-election, 12th April 2007) Liberal 1059, 50.05% Conservative 672, 31.76% IKHHC 252, 11.91% Labour 133, 6.29% Majority: 387, 19.29% St.George's & St.Oswald Liberal 1479, 32.17% Labour 1081, 23.52% Conservative 904, 19.66% IKHHC 754, 16.40% Liberal Democrat 379, 8.24% Majority: 398, 9.65% The Labour vote disintegrated in St.Chad's between 2005 and 2007. Of course the elections were held the same day as the General Election which would probably benefit the larger parties. The Liberals and Liberal Democrats appear to have an agreement of sorts in Wyre Forest, as neither party has stood candidates against the other for some time. I would imagine that this will help the Liberals there a bit in their bid to hold their two seats. I do believe there is a very good chance for a Liberal Party gain in Devon. The Heavitree & Whipton Barton division is made up of the two Exeter wards bearing those names. Heavitree & Whipton Barton Labour 2419, 35.90% Liberal 1454, 21.58% Liberal Democrat 1379, 20.47% Conservative 1201, 17.82% UKIP 285, 4.23% Majority: 965, 14.32% Combining the recent Exeter City Council elections for Heavitree (2007) and Whipton Barton (2008) gives Liberal 1388, 36.82% Labour 1041, 27.61% Conservative 890, 23.61% Liberal Democrat 375, 9.95% UKIP 76, 2.02% (stood in Heavitree ward only) Majority: 347, 9.21% So it does leave the Liberal Party a very good chance of picking up a seat next year. I can't think of any other places that the Liberal Party are likely to be in contention, can anyone else?

This is a potentially far more fruitful apporach than all the talk of standing in the parliamentary by-elections. Thanks for your analysis! Will our Liberal correspondents in the Siuth west be willing to offer lots of help in Devon next year (by the way, the Liberals lost seats in the last County Council elections in Devon)?

The result in 2005 in Heavitree and Whipton Barton was: Chris Gale 1,454 (21.57%) 2nd (Lib Dem came 3rd) in the other three County Council divisions contested by the Liberals in 2005 they gained 109 in Alphington & Cowick (1.5%), 297 in Priory & St. Leonards (4.4%) and 914 in St. Loyes and Topsham (15.9%).

Remember, however, that decisions like standing in elections are entirely a matter for the local Liberal Association, which is as it should be. We don't want to build a centralised party machine like the Lib Dems!

Considering the Exeter Liberals have stood in the previous elections in the relevant wards and in the last Devon elections, it must be safe to assume they plan to field a candidate there.