Liberal Democrats claim by-election
THE Liberal Democrats have easily won a by-election for the seat on Cornwall Council left open by the passing of a local community stalwart.
The Looe West, Pelynt, Lansallos and Lanteglos division was left without a representative following the sad passing of Edwina Hannaford.
Tributes flooded in at news of the death of the tireless champion for her beloved town of Looe and devoted long-serving member of the council, who had also served on the council’s cabinet.
Edwina, also a former town councillor and mayor of Looe, died two months ago following a lengthy illness, after more than 20 years on Cornwall Council.
A byelection has swept Lib Dem candidate James Candy into her vacant seat on Cornwall Council. Mr Candy received 604 votes (44.8%), beating Conservative Richard Dorling, with 414 votes (30.7%), Labour’s Amy Ladd, with 254 (18.9%), and Paul Clark, from the Green Party, who got 75 votes (5.6%). A total of six ballot papers were rejected, with 1,353 ballot papers issued to a total electorate of 4,784 for a turnout of 28.28%.
Cllr Candy, a long-time friend of
Edwina, with years of experience as a parish councillor and Cornwall councillor, said: “Edwina was committed to building stronger communities and a fairer society, and I intend to carry on that work. She also had a passion for the environment and, as an ex-farmer and regular wild-swimmer, I care deeply about protecting our countryside, keeping sewage out of our rivers and seas, and taking urgent action to tackle the climate emergency.”
Cllr Colin Martin, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cornwall Council, said: “In the many years I have known Jim, he has proven himself to be a determined campaigner and a dependable worker. The people of Looe West, Pelynt, Lansallos and Lanteglos are in safe hands.”
Cllr Martin, who is also the prospective Liberal Democrat candidate for the forthcoming general election in the South East Cornwall seat, added: “An astonishing number of lifelong Conservative voters told us they have lost faith in that party and won’t vote for them again, either locally or nationally. Labour threw everything they had at this election, even printing leaflets with spurious bar charts predicting ‘Labour are set to win’, but ultimately they finished in a poor third place.
“The Liberal Democrats picked up more than twice as many votes as Labour, so it’s clear that, whatever the national polls say, voters in South East Cornwall see the Liberal Democrats as the clear alternative to a failing Conservative party.”
There could be a changing of the guard in Cornwall at the next general election if a new seat-by-seat poll by YouGov proves true. If the country was voting now, Cornwall would be left with only one of its current Conservative MPs, according to last month’s poll. YouGov’s poll shows Labour would win 403 seats nationwide, with their Conservative rivals winning 155, down from 169 in the pollster’s January projection.
The poll suggests three Labour gains in Cornwall, with the Liberal Democrats taking two seats. The model is based on voter intention data collected and analysed by YouGov from 18,761 British adults interviewed from March 7 to 27.
It suggested that South East Cornwall’s Sheryll Murray would be the only Conservative MP to hold a seat in the Duchy.