Stuart Gemmill holds Stradbroke and Laxfield

Stuart signing the "Save Stradbroke Library" petition.
We are both members of the library working group

My congratulations to my "rival" Stuart Gemmill who retained Stradbroke and Laxfield yesterday in what was by any account a disastrous day for the Liberal Democrats!

I would have been surprised but of course delighted to win but was pleased to pick up a respectable number of votes.

Stuart has served as a councillor for a number of years and I know he will continue to put Stradbroke, Laxfield and Wilby's interests on the agenda at Mid Suffolk.

We had a civilised campaign. I have a great deal of respect for Stuart and we agree on many things perhaps taking a slightly different approach to a few issues.

In any case it was good we had a contest as it looked at one stage like there would be an uncontested election which I don't think is good for democracy.

In good news I am now on the Parish Council and I will be working with Stuart there and on a number of other projects such as the helping to save the library. So congratulations Stuart and you can count on my help and support - well until the next elections anyway!

Here is the full result:

Candidate Name	Party Name	Votes	% votes
GEMMILL, Stuart James	Independent	752	72.24
HARGRAVE, James Edward	Liberal Democrat	289	27.76