Conservatives gain Beverley
The Beverley ward by-election on Thursday resulted in the gain by the Conservatives of a seat the Liberal Democrats had held since its creation. The by-election was necessitated by the recent resignation of former Lib Dem Cllr. Derek Osbourne, following his arrest on a criminal charge.
Apart from the substantial swing to the Conservatives, Labour also made substantial improvements on earlier performances in the ward, almost equalling the Lib Dem vote. UKIP came fourth but a long way behind Labour in third place.
The result was:
Terry Paton (Conservative) 1033
Lib Dem 760
Labour 717
UKIP 223
Greens 207
Con. majority 273 Turnout 42.4%
Surbiton Forum 
Brilliant perhaps it can happen in other wards now
“Substantial swing to the Conservatives”?
What garbage.
Beverley Ward – Total Tory share of the vote in 2010: 35.1%
Beverley Ward – Total Tory share of the vote in 2013: 35.1%
The Tories won without increasing their share of the vote simply because Labour voters, having previously lent the Lib Dems to keep the Tories out, reverted to Labour in this by-election.
Will Labour voters make the same decision again, having seen the “tax cutting for the rich, privatising the NHS” Tories sneak despite no increase in their % vote? Personally, I wouldn’t. What’s the point of Voting Labour to return a Tory?
And anyway, more to the point, what’s Beverley got to do with Surbiton?
Sorry, I was forgetting myself – this website’s really not about Surbiton, it’s all about trying to promote the local Tories, isn’t it.
Swing is calculated by comparing the margin between the poll share of the two main parties this time with the margin last time. You may well be right about some Lib Dem voters changing to Labour. On the face of it it seems likely that some – even many – did. However disappointing you may find it, those that did so change were not unaware of the possible effect of their change of allegiance. Your Lib Dem friends made sure of that! Yet they went ahead and did it anyway. Actually I know quite a lot of Labour voters who are much happier now with Tory Councillors than with Lib Dem ones. The fact also remains that the swing did occur because the Conservative vote held while the Lib Dem one collapsed.
What is it to do with Surbiton? Look at the results in Surbiton Hill and Berrylands last time and you’ll see. But you don’t need to. You know already, don’t you?