Letter to the Editor, Bucks Herald, on Lib Dem election success

Letter to the Editor, Bucks Herald.

Published May 18h, 2011

Dear Madam:

It was certainly not a good local election day for the Liberal Democrats in Aylesbury, and the loss of such an able and experienced politician as the party's leader on the council Alan Sherwell will be felt across the community.

But the results were not all bad for our party, and were not as straightforward as your "Lib Dems suffer" headline suggests. In fact in the Buckingham constituency, and totally at odds with the national trend, it was the Lib Dems who were the clear winners.

Not only did we hold our two existing seats, Cheddington (Corry Cashman) and Pitstone (Avril Davies) with increased majorities, we also gained two seats in Waddesdon (David Vick) and Winslow (Llew Monger) from the Conservatives, which you did not mention in your report. We also increased our vote in several other wards. This was a great tribute to the quality and hard work of our candidates.

If you add on their loss of a seat in Buckingham South to Labour, it was a bad day for the Conservatives in Buckingham constituency by any measure. (Bierton, where Lib Dem Julie Ward increased our majority over the Tories, is also in Buckingham constituency, although it is contested by our Aylesbury colleagues.)

Of course, it was Aylesbury Vale council that was being contested, and overall the Conservatives consolidated their position.

But, like the Conservatives and Labour, we organise ourselves and contest elections as constituency parties, and not on local authority lines, and that's where success and failure has to be measured.

Aylesbury town is different political territory to "leafy" North Bucks, where the Tories are traditionally strong. Going by the national trend, the Lib Dems ought to have been wiped out there. Instead we emerged much stronger.

Yours sincerely,

Gareth Davies,

Vice-chairman, Buckingham constituency Liberal Democrats