Tories give council a thumping in Newton Farm

From the perspective of Herefordshire Council's ruling coalition it would not be an exaggeration to call last Thursday's by-election result in Newton Farm a thrashing.

The Conservative Party candidate Ann-Marie Probert won the seat comfortably with 282 votes, almost 100 more than her closest rival.

What makes this result significant is that, despite their dominance across the county, the Conservatives have never represented the Newton Farm area since the council's formation in 1997. In fact, they've historically performed so poorly here that they have polled in last place positions in more than half of elections contested.

During the May 2019 local elections, Tory candidate Jeremy Chapman again came last with just 43 votes and less than 8% of the vote share.

Last week, Ann-Marie Probert claimed 42% of the vote. This should set alarm bells ringing for all coalition party councillors.

Why? Because Ann-Marie won the election on the promise of fighting for a bypass referendum. People are deeply unhappy about the council administration's performance thus far and, two years into a four-year term, this result should be the evidence needed that It's Our County, Green Party and independent councillors face a potential wipe-out in 2023. Let's not forget that we've ended up with a coalition by chance not by choice.

And all of this is important because the work that Herefordshire Council leaders have been quietly getting on with – tackling homelessness, making plans for thousands of new council houses, fighting climate change – is ambitious and progressive, something that our county has seen very little of over the years.

This work looks set to be halted and even reversed if the county elects, as looks likely, yet another Conservative administration in two years time.

So here's the message the coalition parties need to learn and act on fast.

It is typical of councillors to busy themselves with council work and to only really show their faces when an election is imminent. This isn't good enough. Every progressive councillor and would-be candidate should now put themselves into campaign mode, get out into their wards and making a difference. Two years before the next elections? Yes. Because campaigning is the long, hard work of winning hearts and minds.

Last week local MP Jesse Norman wrote on Facebook about his own campaign leading up to the 2010 general election, that he won from the incumbent Liberal Democrats.

"I had been a candidate for three-and-a-half years before my election, working more or less full time, so I hope the voters knew something about me when they put their tick in the box," he said. It took that much work.

And so it should. No one should expect to win an election by delivering a single leaflet and maybe knocking on a door or two, especially when the electorate has been so pissed off with your performance.

Herefordshire faces many challenges: fuel poverty, low wages, an eternal lack of rural services, transport issues, climate change. To allow the Tories back at the helm would be madness.