Thank You Kingsholm and Wotton

Well the dust has settled, I've (almost) recovered and it's time to take stock. I was re-elected as the Liberal Democrat City Councillor for Kingsholm & Wotton. The results were:

Sebastian Richard Seymour Field Liberal Democrat 785 40%
David Hitchings The Labour Party Candidate 487 25%
Matthew Mark Stevens The Conservative Party Candidate 481 25%
Jonathan Cecil Ingleby The Green Party Candidate 108 6%
Daryl Phillip Stanbury UK Independence Party 97 5%

I'm absolutely delighted to be re-elected, and grateful for the support of the 785 people who voted for me. The Tories have clearly now given up on Kingsholm & Wotton - their candidate only appeared at the very last minute, frantically stuffing leaflets through letterboxes on election day. Neither were residents impressed by the negative, personal attacks the Labour party made on me in their leaflets.

Clearly it was a bad night for the Lib Dems across the country, and a real case of 'welcome to government'. But those hoping to see the end of the party should think again - we have been here before and we will roll up our sleeves and bounce back. One thing we must do is assert our distinctiveness, and tell the story of all that we are doing in the government. A recent study showed that 75% of our manifesto is in the coalition agreement, compared with only 60% of the Conservatives'. I'm proud of the things we've achieved: increasing the tax allowance, the pupil premium, raising pensions and 'triple-locking' them, apprenticeships, the greenest government ever, the list goes on. We need to shout our achievements from the rooftops.

In Gloucester although we sadly lost Westgate and Barnwood to the Tories (Barnwood by a heartbreaking 27 votes) we caused the upset of the night by beating a Tory Cabinet Member in Quedgeley Severn Vale ward. Declan Wilson also held his seat in Hucclecote with a massive majority.

Labour did not make the breakthrough locally they might have been hoping for, not winning Quedgeley Fieldcourt (a top 100 target seat for the South West, according to this). They held their seats in Moreland and Matson & Robinswood, but lost the key Labour seat of Barton & Tredworth to the Tories.

Politically the make-up of Gloucester City Council is now: Conservative 19, Lib Dem 10, Labour 7, so the Tories now have overall control.

The Liberal Democrats are the largest opposition party, and we will be holding the administration to account on a number of issues: their poor financial management, the unpopular attempt to move Shopmobility, and the closure of the city centre toilets, to name but a few.

I have also just been elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Gloucester City Council, so I will be playing a key role in this. But I'm also looking forward to carrying on my work in Kingsholm & Wotton. I'm ready to get stuck into both tasks!