Lib Dem District Councillor Defects to Labour

Councillor Mark Binns, who was elected in a by-election in mid February 2013 as a Liberal Democrat, has choosen to defect to the Labour Party in the final few days of campaigning before the General and Local Elections - which will see him retire as a District Councillor.

Above: Labour Parliamentary Candidate for
Gainsborough, David Prescott, with Cllr. Mark
Binns (Gainsborough East Ward).

Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Gainsborough, David Prescott, said he was:

"Proud to welcome West Lindsey Lib Dem Councillor Mark Binns to the Labour Party."

Leader of the Labour Group on West Lindsey District Council, Cllr. Nigel Bowler (Gainsborough North) confirmed his defection simply saying:

"Yes he has."

Liberal Democrat Agent, Cllr. David Cotton (Saxilby), said:

"Mark Binns has had a leave of absence and is not standing for the District Council. I am not aware that anyone knew or had any prior knowledge of his moving to Labour.

"To be honest I think this is a non event and if the best that [Labour] can achieve in a defection it's not a great story or event."

However Cllr. Binns came in for criticism from a number of sources, noting his alleged poor health, his track record of attendance at both Gainsborough Town and West Lindsey District Councils since his election had been exceptionally low.

Bad Night For All Parties in Gainsborough East By-Election

Liberal Democrats in West Lindsey were breathing a heaving sigh of relief last night as their candidate, Cllr. Mark Binns, emerged as the winner, just, of the By-Election for the vacant seat on West Lindsey Dsitrict Council within the Gainsborough East Ward.

The By-Election was called for Thursday, 14th February 2013 following the death of Cllr. Mel Starkey, Liberal Democrat (Gainsborough East), who passed away at the end of October 2012.

However, there was little comfort, or good news to be taken by any of the four parties contesting the seat.

The Liberal Democrats who had a commanding 56.6% of the poll when last contested in 2011 dropped 27.96 percentage points losing nearly half their supporters. Cllr. Binns also has one of the smallest majorities of any of the thirty-seven district councillors. He equals that of Cllr. Bridger, Liberal Democrat (Market Rasen) as both men have majorities of 20. Only Cllr. Darcel, Independent Group (Fiskerton), Cllr. Dobbie, Liberal Democrat (Gainsborough North), and Cllr. Patterson, Conservative (Scampton) have smaller majorities - 19, 19 and 10 respectively.

Meanwhile Mr. Mike Devine, the Labour candidate, faired badly. Widely expected to win, he came second, with the Labour vote down by 10.35 percentage points compared to the average poll from 2011. In spite of this failure, some consolation was provided in a swing of nearly 19% to the party, from the incumbents.

The United Kingdom Independence Party candidate, Dr. Howard Thompson, came third in the contest. He did considerably better than predicted, directly preventing a Labour victory. UKIP did however slip from the second place which they achieved in the Lincolnshire County Council elections in 2009, for the divsion which covers the same area as Gainsborough East and some of Gainsborough North wards.

Mr. Richard Butroid, the Conservative candidate, had little to console himself with ending in fourth position. The party's poll remained relatively static, when compared with the average poll from 2011, up 0.66 percentage points. The performance was better than predicted. However stoic Conservative supporters in the area, the changes in the electoral geography of the ward have left the party in a worse position.

Gainsborough East Ward
West Lindsey District Council

Mark Binns, Liberal Demcrat - 169 (28.64%)
Richard Butroid, Conservative - 129 (21.86%)
Richard Coupland, Labour - 149 (25.25%)
Howard Thompson, UKIP - 143 (24.24%)

Turnout: 598 (11.44%) | Spoilt Ballots: 8

Swing: 18.81% from the Liberal Democrats to Labour

Gainsborough East By-Election Candidates Revealed

Four candidates have been revealed as contesting the by-election, on Thursday, 14th February 2013, for the vacancy in the Gainsborough East Ward of West Lindsey District Council, caused by the death of  Melvyn Starkey, Liberal Democrat, in late October 2012.

At the top of the ballot will be Mark Binns, Liberal Democrat, seeking to retain the seat for his party. He unsuccessfully challenged for a seat in Gainsborough North on the district council in 2011. He is a Gainsborough Town Councillor and was first elected in a by-election in 2008, subsequently re-elected in 2011. It is believed he is a member of the St. John's Ambulance. Expectations are high for Mr. Binns, the ward last voted in 2011 and backed his party with a whopping 57%. With the Liberal Democrats slumping in the polls expect an upset. Likely to finish second or third.

Next on the ballot is Richard Butroid, the Conservative Party Candidate, who is hoping that local electors will support him, so that he can join the ruling Conservative Group at the Council, and really deliver for the people of Gainsborough East. Recently married to Jenine and with a great-grandfather who was a councillor for Gainsborough; Richard hopes to be the second member of the family to represent the people of Gainsborough. Having trained as an electrician he moved into the Health and Safety sector a few years ago and now runs his own company. The Conservatives came second in the 2011 poll with 28%. They will be hoping to equal this performance.  Should not be written off, should take second, although a win is not out of the question.

The third name on the ballot is Michael 'Mike' Devine, the Labour Party Candidate, has lived in Gainsborough for more than forty years and attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. He worked on the land for eighteen years before becoming a cashier for a firm in Lincoln. Mike has been a member of Unite, the Union, for the pas quarter century. Labour only fielded one candidate in 2011 and got 16% of the vote, despite coming in third place they managed to get their candidate elected. They are confident of beating the Liberal Democrats, despite the ward being stubbornly in yellow hands since the boundary changes and all-out elections of 1999. With Labour riding high in the polls anything less than a win will be a disappointment.

Finally the fourth candidate is Howard Thompson, UK Independence Party, of Claxby, near Market Rasen. Making him the least local of all four candidates. Dr. Thompson stood, jointly, for UKIP in the Nettleham and Saxilby and Nettleham by-elections last September and retained the Party's third place standing in the district contest, and equalled that performance as new entrants in the county contest. A former RAF Police Squadron Leader, he runs his own company providing data information security to local companies. Married to Elizabeth, with three children and two grandchildren. UKIP have had a patchy presence in ward contests in recent elections and did not field a candidate in the 2011 election. They are unlikely to make a break-through in this election, despite a good showing in the 2009 County Council contest for Gainsborough Hill (they came second) in front of both the Conservatives and Labour. They have shown no sign of building on this. Regardless of where the opinion polls put them nationally, they have not demonstrated any deep support locally. They should be able to manage a showing of 12%, slotting them into fourth place.

Gainsborough East By Election Called

A by election will be held next month to elect a district councillor to represent the Gainsborough East Ward of West Lindsey District Council.

The election follows the death of Councillor Melvyn Starkey (Liberal Democrat), who passed away in late October 2012.

Nominations will be recieved from Thursday, 10th January until 12:00noon on Friday, 18th January.

It is widely expected that the election will be contested by the three main parties; Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. UKIP are also likely to field a candidate. Should the election be contested the residents will be able to vote on Thursday, 14th February 2013.

Above: 2011 Gainsborough East Result

In the last elections for the Gainsborough East Ward, where three councillors were being elected, the Conservatives secured 27.9% of the vote, the Liberal Democrats secured 56.6% of the vote and Labour secured 15.6%. Two Liberal Democrats were elected and one Labour candidate. This is becasue whilst the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats offered electors a full slate of three candidates, Labour only managed to field one candidate. This suggests that the Liberal Democrats have a commanding grip on the ward. This is not the case.

Above: Notional Result for 2011

If the results figure is moderated, to eliminate the disparity of differing numbers of candidates being fielded by the parties in 2011, then the gap between the Liberal Democrats and Labour becomes a tantalising prospect for a real contest. It would put the Liberal Democrats on 43.1% and Labour on 35.6%. The Conservatives would be on 21.2%. This would mean that Labour would only need a swing of around 3.7% to take the seat off the Liberal Democrats.

So if all things were even Labour should be biting at the heels of the Liberal Democrat. However, the Liberal Democrats have slumped in local government polls since 2010. Looking at the National Projected Share of the Vote the Liberal Democrats have gone from 23% in 2010, 16% in 2011 to just 9% in 2012.  Meanwhile Labour have soared from 29% in 2010 to 40% in 2012. The Conservatives have been bobbing around 36% - 38% mark.

Predicting a by election result is not easy; but no one should be putting money on an easy win for the Liberal Democrats. And no one should discount the Conservatives, who have won every local by-election since June 2006.

Another Sorrow for West Lindsey's Liberal Democrats

West Lindsey's Liberal Democrats have been saddened by news that a popular district councillor passed away earlier this week.

Cllr. Melvyn 'Mel' Starkey, Liberal Democrat (Gainsborough East Ward), served as both a district and town councillor for many years. He was first elected to West Lindsey District Council in 1987 and previously had a career in local government within the authority. 

He was extremely well known both for his job of being a postman for Royal Mail and also in his work as both a town and district councillor.

Deputy Leader of the West Lindsey Liberal Democrat Group said:

"We have all be so saddened to hear of the untimely and sudden death of Mel Starkey.  In his passing West Lindsey has lost a very able servant of the people and the council. 

"Always a Liberal Democrat, he wasn’t one to wear his politics on his sleeve and was well respected by all members in the chamber across the political divide. 

 "Mel leaves a family of whom he was justly proud and our thoughts are very much with them. We will all miss him and his ready wit and style of being a councillor."