Local Election Results Roundup

Local Election Roundup 2021, Results Summary From Sir Paul Beresford MP

MVDC Results: Impressive Wins and a Tragic Near Miss

Our Mole Valley District Council candidates fought exceptionally hard this year and achieved a great deal considering how COVID restrictions limited and cast a veil of uncertainty over the early stages of the campaign. While we were not quite able to regain control of the council from the Liberal Democrats, we did end up holding the same number of seats as before - and ran the Liberals very close in a number of areas.

As a campaigning team Mole Valley Conservatives are only growing stronger and more cohesive - and I very much believe that the solid showing this year will be a springboard towards more substantial successes in 2022 and beyond.

This year we held the following seats:

Bookham North - Sarah Chambers - 1148 votes

Bookham South - James Chambers - 1117 votes

Fetcham East - Lynne Brooks - 880 votes

Leatherhead South - Simon Moss - 877 votes

Westcott - James Friend - 566 votes

While the Lib Dems clung onto:

Dorking North

Dorking South

Fetcham West

Holmwoods

Leatherhead North

I must take the time to particularly commiserate with Paul Purcell and Leslie Maruziva, both of whom pushed their opponents extremely hard and nearly claimed Leatherhead North and The Holmwoods for the Conservatives. Both candidates ran hugely energetic and determined campaigns and would have been an extremely strong advocates for these wards - I very much hope we will have them both back to secure two wins next year.

My deepest thanks go to all those members who worked so hard for these results. Thanks to the effort you put in, we have an impressive, united and focussed Conservative Group on MVDC ready to hold the Lib Dems to account as they bungle their way forward for the next year, and ensured that we are able to present a credible alternative vision for how our district can and should be run.

A full breakdown of the MVDC results can be found HERE

A New Conservative PCC For Surrey

One of the biggest wins from this set of elections was the successful bid by Lisa Townsend to become Surrey's new Police and Crime Commissioner. Lisa took 155,116 first and second preference votes, leading to a decisive win in the second round.

This is an important role and it is vital that it is held by a serious, credible individual with the right qualities and life experience. I am delighted that we now have such a PCC in place - residents will know that Surrey has not always been so fortunate in this regard!

Lisa's win is even more impressive when we remember that she stepped into the fight comparatively late in the day but was quickly able to build momentum and enthusiasm - I look forward to working with her on a range of issues, not least the ongoing blight caused by repeated Traveller incursions around the constituency and Surrey Police's response to these incidents.

Of all the results discussed here, I must admit that this is perhaps the only one which prompted an audible sigh of relief on my part. As you will know, Lisa was running against Mole Valley Lib Dem and perennial candidate Paul Kennedy (pictured left demonstrating how a pose can serve as an epitath) someone who we in Mole Valley are all too familiar with.

I have watched with alarm over the past year or so as the Lib Dems in Surrey have insinuated that the Police, as well as the other institutions making up our country, are structurally racist; have equivocated and made excuses for thuggish or destructive behaviour from BLM or Extinction Rebellion; and locally have wrung their hands and refused to take a stand against Travellers ruining Green Belt land, terrorising residents and damaging property.

The idea that a proponent of these views could have been responsible for overseeing the Police or setting policing priorities was shocking - and Lisa & her team have done us all a truly valuable service by working to ensure that this did not come to pass!

Surrey County Council Results: An Overall Win but a Challenge for the Future

One of the things that I have always seen as a great strength of our Party is our ability to be honest with ourselves. With that in mind, I think members will agree that the county results could best be described as 'mixed'.

It is of course brilliant news that County Councillors Helyn Clack, Clare Curran and Tim Hall all held their seats (Dorking Rural, Bookham & Fetcham West and Leatherhead & Fetcham East respectively) and will continue adding to their long track records of achievement and service to their local communities. Also welcome is the news that newcomer Bob Hughes was able to hold the Shere division for the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats remain stubbornly well entrenched in both Dorking Hills and Dorking South & Holmwoods and while I cannot fault our candidates or campaigners in these areas, clearly we as a Party have not yet arrived at the optimal strategy for winning there - but we will!

Unfortunately the worst news came from the Horsleys, which is now represented by a 'Residents for Guildford and Villages' councillor. Julie Iles has been an outstanding representative for the area and was amongst the hardest working councillors in Surrey. I have no hesitation in saying that this result is no reflection on her whatsoever - it is the toxic fallout from the disastrous way GBCs Conservative Group handled the Local Plan making process and subsequent damage to Guildford's Green Belt over a multi year period.

Indeed, signs of malaise ran all the way through Guildford's county divisions, the Party went into these elections holding seven of Guildford's county council seats but came out the other end with only three - losing to both the Liberal Democrats and Residents for Guildford and Villages. This is the impact a botched Local Plan can have and illustrates why it is so important that the Conservative Group on MVDC remains implacably committed to Green Belt protection or else similar discontent will certainly appear in Mole Valley as well.

The wider picture across Surrey in the aftermath of these elections is also not especially comfortable. Surrey County Council has 81 seats in total and the the Conservative Party now hold just 47 of those (down from 61 in 2017). This makes for a narrow majority of just 6, enough for Cllr Tim Oliver and his colleagues to move ahead with their programme for Surrey but not the majority one would expect from a 'Tory Parliamentary Stronghold'.

I know that that councillors, local associations and members across the county will already be beginning discussions as to the proper remedies for these results - and that no time will be lost in beginning the preparations for next time where we will come back, even stronger and more focussed, to reclaim those divisions which slipped away this time.

Detailed results for each division in Surrey can be found here: HERE

Final Thoughts

These have been a challenging set of elections, fought against a national backdrop that few could have imagined as recently as a year and a half ago. I cannot stress enough how grateful I am to everyone who stood as a candidate, helped with a campaign, donated to our fighting fund or even just turned out to vote on the day.

While not everything went our way this time, we do now have a Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner, we have retained control of Surrey County Council and we remain within a whisker of removing the Lib Dems from control of Mole Valley District Council - our main task for 2022.

For a final, perhaps slightly irreverent thought, I know you will have noticed the usual wave of Lib Dem posters which appear around the constituency like a rash every election cycle. I have been catching glimpses of these for decades now and for as long as I can remember they have always evoked a slight twinge of discomfort and unease in the back of my mind. As though I had seen them somewhere before in another, equally negative, context.

For a very long time I wondered what it could be about these simple yellow diamond shapes with an animal pictured inside that could provoke this kind of reaction?

I'm happy to report that the longstanding mystery was finally solved just a couple of weeks ago by an old friend, currently in Australia, who sent me the following image! The only remaining question now is whether it was the Lib Dems who first recognised the brand synergy they had with the people responsible for highlighting the danger posed by a bunch of poisonous reptiles - or could it have been the other way around...