This May saw a fantastic set of results for the Liberal Democrats.
Twelve new majority Lib Dem councils were elected: Chichester, Dacorum, Guildford, Horsham, Mid Devon, South Hams, South Oxfordshire, Stratford-on-Avon, Surrey Heath, Teignbridge, West Berkshire, and Windsor and Maidenhead.
The ‘blue wall’ is no more.
We kept control of Bath and North East Somerset, Chelmsford, Cotswold, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Hinckley & Bosworth, Hull, Mole Valley, North Devon, North Norfolk, Oadby and Wigston, St Albans, Three Rivers, Vale of White Horse, Watford, Winchester, and Woking.
We also won against Labour, gaining seats in Hull, Liverpool and Manchester.
There are many councils facing no overall control where Liberal Democrats will be in positions of influence, be that leading the council, part of an alliance or coalition, or providing constructive, yet robust, opposition.
“The ‘blue wall’ is no more”
We have been busy providing advice and support for those groups facing changed circumstances.
Commiserations to those who, despite working very hard, did not make it this time.
For example, because of the Government changing the voting system for directly elected mayors, the excellent Dave Hodgson did not win re-election in Bedford, missing out by just 145 votes. We thank Dave for his years of service.
We gained more than 400 councillors, bringing our total across the UK to just less than 3,000 Lib Dems on principal authorities.
This means the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group grows in strength and will be chairing one extra LGA board. We will use that extra voice to fight hard for local communities across the country.