Egremont Town Council by-election result
Despite - or perhaps even partly because of - the fact that polling cards had not been sent out, the turnout in the Egremont South Town Council by-election yesterday was 26.3%. Obviously a lot of people had got the message that there was an election, and many of them told us on the doorstep that they were cross about the decision not to send them polling cards.
26.3% may sound disappointing, but it is significantly higher than I have sometimes seen in a Council by-election not coinciding with other elections.
The other factor which may have boosted turnout was local concern over the proposals for a Solar Farm at Dent Fall.
It is probably worth pointing out that the planning application for Dent Fell has not yet been submitted, and after the initial proposals got a huge raspberry from local residents when the potential applicants went to public consultation, it is quite possible that the proposals may change significantly before an actual application comes in.
The votes were cast for the different candidates as follows:
Chris Colley (Reform UK) 359 (Elected)
Janette Tear (Labour) 226
Jeff Hailes (Conservative) 145
Spoilt 4
I don't get the impression that this was a positive vote for Reform. It is a massive rebuke to Labour in a ward they had held for 35 years, and also an indcation that the voters have not yet fogiven the Conservatives for the mistakes we made while in government. Both the Conservatives and Labour need to learn from this.
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