Aftermath

SWALE WEST ELECTORAL DIVISION (35.2% Turnout)

Mike BALDOCK - Labour - 700
Keith FERRIN - Conservative - 2609 ELECTED
Elvie LOWE - Liberal Democrat - 1348


Well, after 5 weeks slog I feel pretty knackered!

The Labour Party suffered a meltdown pretty much across the whole of Swale and Kent.

I had originally hoped to put together an effective campaign across Swale West, to leaflet every house with at least two leaflets and get a good canvass done. I wanted to show the residents that someone was listening and that someone wanted to put their concerns first.

Given the national picture however, and the obvious anger on the doorsteps, the party was forced to concentrate all its efforts on trying to hold the seats it already had rather than expanding into areas where there had been precious little effort for over a decade.

Consequently I was only able to get a single leaflet out, and was able to canvass only a fraction of the people I had hoped to reach. This inability to provide voters with a good campaign hurts more than anything else to be honest. I never expected to win, and never claimed it was likely. But most importantly I wanted to show that people's votes mattered - that they were not being taken for granted, or that people didn't really care if they voted or not.

Under the circumstances, to have virtually matched the votes of the Borough elections in the wards that make up Swale West is quite motivating in itself. To know that many of you were conned by Lib Dems claims of running neck and neck with the Tories in this seat really annoys me.

As the result shows, this was never 'a two horse race' as The Lib Dems declared - people being conned into switching their votes on the basis of false claims and barcharts is an insult to the electors and to the concept of democracy. And it should be illegal.

Full credit to the Lib Dems for running a massive campaign with lots of helpers, lots of leaflets and lots of canvassing - but surely even they would gain more satisfaction from running an honest campaign and doing well, than running a dishonest one and stealing people's votes?

And I have to say how surprised I was that even the Tories were active this time - perhaps some of the comments made during the election hit home, and hopefully a little more attention will be given to our local issues over the next 4 years - I will be making sure Cllr Ferrin knows all the concerns you pass onto me, and he can expect a busy intray from me next week :-)

So a huge thank you to everyone who voted for me - in the current climate it's amazing anyone bothered to vote for any of us!