Liberal Democrat Success in Watford Central By-Election

The Watford Central Ward By-Electionwas caused by the standing down of one of the sitting Lib Dem councillors having obtained a job in the Midlands - meaning he had to resign his seat and move home. The resulting by-election campaign was remarkable for the barrage of Labour personal attacks against the Lib Dem candidate, deliberate misrepresentation and a curious attempt to use spurious legal measures to block Lib Dem participation in the election at all.

Labour also used personal remarks by the local Chief Inspector to imply official support for of Labour's proposals. As a result, Labour had to clarify this was only the Chief Inspector's own personal view. Perhaps police officers should be more careful in the future about the risk that Labour politicians might highjack their remarks!

Labour were also reported as having tried to "persuade" some people bold enough to display support for the Lib Dem candidate to take down their posters. Nice people heh?

The Lib Dem campaign was factual and positive throughout and the election results showed what people thought of Labour's dirty campaign and the effective way the Lib Dems run Watford

LD Lizz Ayre 716 45.9% -1.6% May 12 816 47.5%

Lab 550 35.3% +4.3% 532 31.0%

Con 151 9.7% -1.1% 186 10.8%

Green 83 5.3% -0.9% 106 6.2%

UKIP 59 3.8% -0.6% 76 4.4%

Poll 24.9% 27.16% 24 Spoilt Papers