Woking Conservatives
Woking Local Elections 2015
It was a long evening at the HG Wells Centre. The Conservatives increased their majority for the fourth year running, and now have 24 seats on the council. The Liberal Democrats lost further ground, failing to hold traditionally safe seats like Old Woking and Hermitage & Knaphill South and coming within 50 votes of seeing their leader deposed in Kingfield & Westfield. Labour gained a second councillor in Maybury & Sheerwater, while attempts by independent candidates to win seats failed to replicate John Bond’s success in Byfleet last year. UKIP’s share of the vote held up well, but under their current leadership they are incapable of articulating a positive vision for the borough.
I was particularly pleased to see my friend Melanie Whitehand re-elected in Knaphill with the largest majority in Woking. Somewhat dishearteningly, Melanie’s majority is greater than the entire number of votes cast to re-elect me in Mount Hermon East last year, and she secured more votes in a single council ward than I gained in the entire parliamentary constituency of Glasgow East when I stood as a candidate in 2005. Melanie has provided a fantastic service to her residents and has addressed some challenging issues over the last eight years. Completely selfless in her work, she is the epitome of what public service should be about. I was also happy to see Hilary Addison elected to another term as councillor for Goldsworth East. Like Melanie, Hilary has turned a former Liberal Democrat seat into one with a large Conservative vote thanks to her staunch advocacy of residents’ interests.
In Byfleet, our excellent candidate Harry Briggs will now represent residents in the east of the borough. Although independent candidate Amanda Boote came a good second, pushing the Liberal Democrats into third place, voters were no doubt aware of the poor performance of the area’s other independent councillor, who failed to turn up to a large number of important meetings last year. An independent candidate standing on a platform of opposition to the Sheerwater redevelopment also failed to muster significant support, suggesting that opposition to the project might not be as widespread as is often believed.
It was going to be a tall order for the Conservatives to win in Kingfield & Westfield this time round given the high profile of the incumbent councillor, but credit goes to Natalie Bourne who represented the Conservatives extremely well in the ward. She will undoubtedly have better success next time. Colin Scott also failed to win election in Maybury & Sheerwater despite expending considerable energy campaigning in every seat in the borough as well as constituencies as far flung as Southampton and Rochester & Strood.
Finally, congratulations to our new councillors, John Lawrence and Paul Smith, who will represent the traditionally Liberal Democrat seats of Old Woking and Hermitage & Knaphill South. Both men are hugely respected in their communities and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the council. I’m sure they will both be effective champions for their areas.
You can read more about the local election results in the Woking Advertiser here and the Woking News & Mail here.
Election Results
Thank you to everyone who turned out at the local elections in Mount Hermon East on Thursday and helped re-elect me as your councillor for a second term. I am grateful for the support that people gave me during the election and for all the kind messages I received both before and after polling day. I will do my best to continue to make sure that your views are well represented and to help resolve any problems whenever they occur.
Overall the Conservatives increased their position on the council, with my colleague Rizwan Shah winning the traditionally Liberal Democrat seat of Goldsworth East, Debbie Harlow taking the third Knaphill seat, and Colin Kemp beating the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Horsell West. They are joined by the extremely talented Ayesha Azad, who takes over from Simon Bellord in Mayford & Sutton Green.
While it was a great night for the Conservatives in Woking, who again bucked the national trend to increase our vote share and representation on the council, it was sad to see Dorothy Farrant lose out by a small margin in Byfleet. Dorothy was an assiduous local champion and I have no doubt she will return to the council when the Byfleet seat comes up for election again next year. It was disappointing to lose in Maybury & Sheerwater, although elections in that community are always unpredictable. My friend Colin Scott also spent a lot of time and effort working in Mount Hermon West and would have been a fantastic councillor, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get him elected this time around.
Both the Woking Advertiser and the Woking News & Mail have written extensively about the elections and you can get a detailed summary of the results here and here.
Marta Andreasen MEP speaks at South Woking Conservatives’ fundraising event
It was a pleasure to welcome Marta Andreasen MEP to the winter lunch party hosted by the South Woking branch of Woking Conservatives this afternoon. Marta is one of the Conservative Party’s Members of the European Parliament and is ranked fourth on our list for South East England in next year’s European elections. She has made a name for herself as an anti-corruption campaigner, famously being sacked from the European Commission for refusing to sign off its accounts, and regularly appears in the press highlighting examples of EU waste.
Many people will know that Marta defected from UKIP to the Conservatives this year after a public falling out with Nigel Farage. She has since expressed concerns about the way UKIP is run and the views of some of its candidates. However, I was pleased that during her talk she avoided personal attacks, and concentrated on her own work in the European Parliament, noting that the Conservatives are the only party pledged to hold an in or out referendum on our membership of the European Union.
I found Marta honest and engaging. She made an effort to speak with everyone and took lots of time to answer questions. I look forward to campaigning for her and hope that the people of Woking will return her to the European Parliament as she is undoubtedly a principled advocate of our national interests in Brussels.
Marta Andreasen MEP to speak at South Woking Conservatives’ winter lunch party
I’m delighted to announce that Marta Andreasen MEP will be the guest speaker at the South Woking Conservatives’ annual winter lunch party on Saturday 7th December at Pin Mill on Heathside Road.
Marta has been an MEP since 2009 and was formerly chief accountant to the European Commission, where she raised concerns about flaws in the EU’s accounting system that left it vulnerable to fraud. She defected from UKIP to the Conservatives earlier this year and is ranked fourth on the Conservative list of candidates for South East England in the 2014 European Parliament elections.
The South Woking winter lunch parties are always a highlight of our association’s calendar of events and Marta will undoubtedly be a fascinating speaker. Tickets are likely to sell out quickly so make sure you book your place on the Woking Conservatives’ website.