Liberal Democrats Gain a County Council Seat in Hertfordshire in a By-Election in the Three Rivers Rural Division
The Three Rivers Rural Division resulted from boundary changes and an additional county division that was added in 2017 in response to Hertfordshire's growing population. In the 2017 county council elections, which were overshadowed by Theresa May's snap election call, the Conservative who held the former Chorleywood Division won the new division but with a majority of only 153 votes.
However the Conservative Councillor who is also a City of London councillor recently resigned from Hertfordshire County Council to concentrate on his London responsibilities, thus causing the by-election that was held on October 25th, 2018.
The result of the by-election in Three Rivers Rural division of Hertfordshire County Council on 25th October, 2018 was:
Liberal Democrat Phil Williams 1846 (53%) +10% Elected
Conservatives 1315 (38%) -10%
Labour 144 (4%) 0%
UKIP 86 (3%) +1%
Green 68 (2%) -1%
The turnout was 30% and there were 3 spoilt papers.
This was a GAIN by Lib Dems fron Conservatives
The result represented a 10% swing from Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats.
Councillor Nick Hollinghurst, who sits on Hertfordshire County Council for the Tring Division and who is the Membership Development Officer for West Herts Lib Dems said,
"My hearty c
ongratulations to Phil Williams. He will make a superb County Councillor and I very much look forward to having him join us at County Hall. Massive thanks to everyone who worked so hard on the campaign and congratulations to agent Chris White and to Sara Bedford who led the campaign. We now have 4 Lib Dem County Councillors in West Herts - 2 in our Dacorum area and 2 in our Three Rivers area."
The Liberal Democrats are the Official Opposition on Hertfordshire County Council and there are now 18 councillors in the Liberal Democrat Group led by Cllr Giles-Medhurst. The Conservatives are in the majority with 50 councillors and Labour have 10.