Suffolk Election and Referrendum Results Summary

The elections in Suffolk resulted in Labour re-gaining Ipswich and the Tories loosing overall control of Waveney. The results table below shows the picture across the county. (Note the comparisons are against the last full elections)

Council	Con	Lab	LD	Green	Ind	Control
Babergh	18 (+1)	3(+2)	12 (-3)	0	10	NOC
Forest Heath	23 (+3)	1(+1)	2(-1)	0	1(-3)	CON
Ipswich	16(-2)	28(+5)	4(-3)	0	0	LAB (from CON/LD
Mid Suffolk	22(+1)	1(+1)	6(-4)	4(+1)	7(+1)	CON
St Edmundsbury	38(+2)	3(+1)	0(-3)	0(-1)	4(+1)	CON
Suffolk Coastal	44(-1)	4(+3)	5(-4)	0	2(+2)	CON
Waveney	23(-4)	23(+8)	0(-2)	1	1(-2)	NOC (from CON)
	184(=)	63(+21)	29(-20)	5(=)	25(-1)

So overall the Tories have exactly the same number of seats they had at the last elections although accounting for by-elections they did loose around 4 seats.

Labour picked up seats across the county especially in their urban heartlands in Waveney and Ipswich but they do now have at least 1 seat on each council.

The Lib Dems lost almost the same number of seats labour gained (20) in what was a very bad night nationally although they have avoided the complete wipeout seen in parts of the Midlands and the North

On the AV referrendum here is how people voted in each council area:

Council	Result	Yes	No	Turnout %
Babergh	No	9,423 29.2%	22,819 70.8%	46.66%
Forest Heath	No	3,327 23.6%	10,757 76.4%	37.71%
Ipswich	No	10,859 30.1%	25,195 69.9%	39.24%
Mid Suffolk	No	10,177 28.3%	25,828 71.7%	47.95%
St Edmundsbury	No	9,789 28.5%	24,607 71.5%	42.54%
Suffolk Coastal	No	13,452 28.6%	33,524 71.4%	49.56%
Waveney	No	10,035 26.3%	28,162 73.8%	42.91%

Dan Poulter wants Andrea Hill to go!

Dan Poulter receiving letters from Debenham Primary
Schoolchildren asking him to help save the library

Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Conservative MP Dr Dan Poulter wants Andrea Hill to go! In an interview with the BBC he made it clear that media attention around Andrea Hill was stopping the County Council getting on with their job of delivering services. He described her as having become "the story"

He described the previous direction of the County Council as "not right for the County" and welcomed the change of direction and the new leadership of Mark Bee.

Asked to comment on whether she would return to work he said "many of my residents would be delighted if she didn't".

I very much welcome Dan's comments on Andrea Hill and hope that we have a resolution to this issue as soon as possible. As I have said before I feel her position is untenable and I am pleased to see our MP continuing to take such a strong line on this issue. I feel he is very much representing the position of his constituents of all parties on this issue.

Meanwhile the BBC report that Suffolk County Council have confirmed that the reason for her leave is so an investigation into anoymous whistleblowing complaints can take place. Hill is effectively on "gardening leave" and as Bungay poet Luke Wright said on Twitter:

@lukewrightpoet: "Andrea Hill is on "gardening leave" on full pay. How many other gardeners get twenty odd grand a month?"

If you have't read Luke's excellent poem "A poem for Andrea Hill" then please take a look on his Blog.

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

Suffolk Results Come In!

Results as they happen!

Fastest results are from the Councils Tweeting themselves (hats off to them!)

Babergh @baberghdistrict Twitter Page
Suffolk Coastal @suffolkcoastal Twitter Page
Waveney @waveneydc Twitter Page

For the other councils

Mid Suffolk see Results Page or follow my tweets @onlygeek
Ipswich follow @ipswichlabour Twitter Page

Suffolk Elections Coverage

Sadly it seems there is less and less coverage of local elections these days. The BBC did websites with council by council results in the past but these seem to have disappeared (cuts?) and the press coverage is also limited. Maybe in "the Big Society" we have to produce our own election coverage as well as running all public services!!

I actually struggled to find a list of the current state of the parties in each of the Suffolk Districts. In the end with the help of a website run by the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and the council's own websites I managed to find the information.

Current State of Parties and Councils in Suffolk 

Council	Con	Lab	LD	Green	Ind/Oth	Control	Seats
Babergh	19	0	16	0	8	NOC	43
Forest Heath	20	0	4	0	3	CON	27
Ipswich	18	23	7	0	0	CON/LD	48
Mid Suffolk	21	0	10	3	6	CON	40
St Edmonsbury	36	3	3	0	3	CON	45
Suffolk Coastal	45	9	1	0	0	CON	55
Waveney	29	15	2	1	1	CON	48
	188	50	43	4	21		306

Results get later and later too with none of the Suffolk councils bothering to count overnight. According to the EADT Suffolk Coastal, St Edmundsbury, Forest Heath and Babergh are counting during the morning. Ipswich is due to start counting at noon and Mid Suffolk is starting its count at 2pm.

I will be at the Mid Suffollk count and will tweet results as I am able to and will try and produce an updated table sometime tomorrow

The AV count must start at 4pm so it looks like Mid Suffolk could be cutting it a bit fine. I know Mid Suffolk's results will be published here but not sure yet where the online results pages will be for the other councils or if any will live tweet them or if others at the counts will. Keep an eye on my blog and I will let you know what I find.