Tory majority at last

I shall be commenting more at length on the local election results tomorrow, when I hope we’ll have the full result.  However the Conservatives gained six seats net across the Borough to give them 28 Councillors and an overall majority of eight seats. The Lib Dems have at least 17 seats, down from 25. Norbiton ward still has to declare its full results. There are obviously some fierce recounts happening there, probably between Labour and the Lib Dems, The final outcome of those will determine whether RBK has a Labour Group once again.

In Surbiton Conservatives  won all three seats in Alexandra ward for the first time in its history. Congratulations to Richard Hudson and Chris Hayes and a special mention to Ian George, who lost his seat in 2010 and has now won it back again! Mike Head won a seat in Berrylands, where he fought a good campaign in the bye-election last year, following the death of Frances Moseley. Andy Johnson also  gained a seat there, giving the Conservatives two out of three. It’s my opinion that the practice of listing candidates’ names alphabetically from top to bottom of the ballot paper may well have helped Lib Dem Cllr. Abraham keep her seat while Conservative Emma Wright narrowly failed to make it a clean sweep for her party.

This Lib Dem survivor in Berrylands, coupled with the Conservative defeat in Surbiton Hill (albeit by a narrow margin of 20 votes in the case of Peter Kelk) and the Lib Dem retention of all three seats in St. Marks, means that the Lib Dems will still control the Neighbourhood Committee by 7 seats to 5.