My analysis of local by-election results from 02/07/15 and my short tribute to the victims of the Tunisian beach massacre

Readers, the results from this week's local by-elections (one on 30th June, one on 2nd July) featuring Green Party candidates were as follows:

Cardiff UA, Pentyrch: Conservative 561 (37.8%, -16.8%), Plaid Cymru 543 (36.6%, +24.5%), Labour 324 (21.8%, -7.9%), Independent 24 (1.6%), Green 22 (1.5%, -1.3%), Liberal Democrat 10 (0.7%, -0.9%).

Richmond-upon-Thames LBC, Hampton Wick: Lib Dem 1189 (43.0%, +25.0%), Con 1081 (39.1%, -10.6%), Green 237 (8.6%, -9.9%), Lab 185 (6.7%, -7.2%), UKIP 69 (2.5%), Ind L 7 (0.3%). Lib Dem gain from Conservative.

The result in Pentyrch, where Plaid Cymru came just 18 votes short of winning the seat, shows that a revival of the Green Party-Plaid Cymru pact that occurred in 1992 would be very useful in Cardiff in particular. After all, we finished ahead of PC in Cardiff Central in the most recent general election, but PC performed well in Cardiff West when we did not (Pentyrch is in Cardiff West). Had we helped obtain a joint Green Party-Plaid Cymru candidate in this contest, the Conservatives would almost certainly have lost that local by-election. I also believe this pact will work very well across Wales, for Plaid Cymru does much better in the North and West of Wales than in the East of Wales.

Meanwhile, the result in Hampton Wick shows a crucial stroke of recovery by the Lib Dems, who squeezed us heavily in order to gain a seat from the Conservatives, vacated by Tania Mathias who notably defeated Vince Cable back in May in Twickenham. Perhaps our second place finish in that ward was boosted by European elections turnouts-Britain needs to stop the practice of holding any local elections on the same day as either European elections or general elections.

On another note, I will now pay tribute to the 38 victims of the massacre on a Tunisian beach, including the 30 Britons who died, comprising people of all ages and backgrouds. Even though I did not know any of the 30 personally, I nevertheless wish for them to be remembered by we, the people of Britain.

Alan.


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