Thursday's Town Council by-election

On Thursday last week there was a Town Council election in Huntingdon, and it proved a fantastic night to be a Liberal Democrat. It is the rule that a maximum of two elections be held on the same day, and so with the General Election and District Council elections being held on May 6th, the Town Council election was delayed until 27th.

Following on so quickly from the General Election, there was a fear that the turnout would be poor, but in the end it was 24.8% - very respectable given the circumstances. The outcome might prove a further barometer for Lib Dem support in Huntingdon East, so after a quick-fire campaign, voting began at 7.00 a.m.

By 7.45 p.m., things were still fairly quiet, as the picture below shows. Left of the photo is Lizzie Shrapnel, telling for the Lib Dems, and Conservative Town Councillor, Susan Mulcahy.

By 8.00 p.m. it got a little busier, so with Chris Jordan operating as a "runner", the telling returns were fed back to Lib Dem HQ, which on this occasion was the MS Support Centre, near the Olympic Gym. But as the picture below shows, there was no queue on this occasion!

The result was expected around 11.00 p.m., once the boxes were al collected in, and count would be......in Hartford Village Hall.

So time for a pint at the Barley Mow before the count began!