The Lib Dems in Wokingham did a lot better than the Lib Dems in a lot of places.

In the local elections we lost one seat, held 2, one of which was mine, and came close to gaining 2.  In Emmbrook we lost by just 11 – having been 900 votes behind last time.  Overall, our vote increased – and at 22% was roughly 3 times our national polling.   We are definitely the second party in Wokingham Borough behind the Tories, with UKIP well beaten into 3rd place on 17.4%.   In the European elections we also did better than the Lib Dems nationally.

Of course we would have liked to have done better.  But the Tories should be very wary of thinking that holding Emmbrook by 11 votes means they can do whatever they want with Wokingham town centre and Elms Field.   The Lib Dem campaign focused on our opposition to the Conservatives’ plans for the town centre.   We didn’t go from 13.6% of the vote in 2012 to 37.1% in 2014 in Emmbrook by accident.

The next year in the council will be very interesting.  The Conservatives have ditched David Lee and are choosing a new Leader of the Council.  Will it make any difference?   We wait and see.

Whatever happens, the Lib Dem group will continue to fight for a fair deal for everyone in the Borough and against building on Elms Field.

 

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