Loading ...About 30 years ago a group of keen Liberals in Stockton Heath decided to learn the new campaign techniques of
The first Stockton Heath Focus in 1979. A public row between the Tories on the Parish Council was one story!
pavement politics and Focus leaflets and challenge the Conservatives. At that time there were just two Liberals on Warrington Borough Council. They were from Lymm and one of them was Ian Marks. The Conservatives held practically every elected position south of the Ship Canal. Those who were not Conservative were Labour, and campaigning for the Liberals was tough.
1980 to 1985.
First successes on the Parish and the County Councils.
The first Liberal success was to get Andrew Renshaw elected to Stockton Heath Parish Council in 1980 – the first of many Parish Council successes. Then, in 1981, in a stunning and unexpected victory the Liberals took the County Council Division of Bridgewater which covered Stockton Heath and Grappenhall.
This was the year Cheshire County became a ‘hung’ council, the first in England, and the Liberals held the balance of power. Under the leadership of Andrew Stunnell, who is now MP for Hazel Grove, our group played a huge part in changing Cheshire’s culture and making it one of the best run councils in the country. In the next County Council elections in 1985 we took another two seats from the Tories: the Liberals took Lymm; and High Warren (Appleton/Hatton,Stretton,Walton) was won for the SDP by Rick Tilling, who later led the County Lib Dem Group and was Deputy Leader of the County Council from 1993-98.
1987. Break-through on the Borough Council – up from 2 to 8.
By this time the Liberals and SDP were working closely together. In 1987 we made our first breakthrough on the Borough Council when the Liberals, agented by Andrew Renshaw, beat the Tories and won all 6 seats in Stockton Heath and Grappenhall.
This was a time when campaigning was mostly done on the doorstep. Every night for months, teams of canvassers went out knocking on doors till well after dark come rain, snow or ice. With elections ‘all out’ and 4 yearly it was a long wait until the next chance. The Tories would be out on the streets too – desperate not to lose any more seats to the detested Liberals. But lose them they did!
1991 – and then we were 9.
At the next elections in 1991 we won all 3 seats in Appleton, but lost the 2 seats in Lymm after boundary changes. With the Tories now on 8 the Liberal Democrats (as we now were) became the official opposition at the Town Hall. We raced the Tories to the front seats at the first council meeting and they were incensed! Professor Barbara Mawer was now leader of our group. This was also the year that the Tories lost the Parliamentary seat of Warrington South to Labour.
1995 – and then we were 11.
In 1985 things got even worse for the Tories and they were reduced to 1 councillor – losing even Culcheth & Croft to Labour and 2 Lymm seats back to us. Labours majority was 36!
1998 Warrington goes Unitary
When Warrington was taken out of Cheshire in 1998 to become a Unitary Authority it was a setback for us, as our position on the County Council gave us influence and the power to get things done. At the same time elections changed from four-yearly to the annual election of 1/3 of the councillors. This helped us to concentrate our effort and win more seats.
1998-2000. The breakthrough against Labour
- and then we were 13.
Fairfield & Howley by-election. Cyril Smith came to help and candidate, John Ault ,introduced us to a new style of high power campaigning
By now the Tories had lost their campaigning edge and we were able to turn our attention to the Labour-held wards. We ran two spectacular by-election campaigns against Labour in Fairfield & Howley and Great Sankey North. We didn’t quite win, in spite of help from across the whole North West but we seriously scared the Labour Party who never dreamed we could challenge them. The breakthrough came in 2000 when we won our first seats from Labour north of the Ship Canal: taking Great Sankey North at last and Latchford as well.
2003 – 2004 – up to 21 and on our way!
At the elections in 2002 we took two more seats and in 2003 we took Labour on in their heartlands and won a by-election in Poulton North ward. In 2004 we won another five seats from Labour. We now had councillors in 9 out of 12 wards in Warrington South and two in Warrington North. We also won control of Great Sankey Parish Council. Another landmark was when Ted Lafferty became the first Liberal Democrat Mayor of Warrington.
2005 -2006 – the largest party and running the council
At the 2005 General Election both constituencies were again won by Labour. There was no revival in Conservative support and the Lib Dems were the only party with an increased share of the vote.
But it was the Local Elections in 2006 tha
May 2006. Celebrating success after the Count at the Parr Hall. Ian Marks (centre) with some of our councillors from Great Sankey.
t made history for us.
We took another four seats from Labour who lost their overall majority after 23 years in control. The balance was Lib Dem 25, Conservatives 6 Labour 26. After the election we made an agreement with the Conservatives to work together to run the Council with Ian Marks as Leader. In spite of some heart searching it was the best outcome and worked well. The Council needed a stable administration and Labour would not work with anyone.
Getting Labour away from the controls gave us a chance to find out what had really been going on and the muddle we found was worse than expected. Finances were heading for deep trouble and difficult decisions had been shelved for years.
Later that year we beat Labour again in a by-election in Poulton North and became the largest party at the Town Hall
2007 – 2009 – the going gets tough
Party Leader Nick Clegg made several visits to help Jo Crotty’s campaign for Warrington South. This photograph was taken at Omega during the ‘Stop the Prison’ campaign
Taking over the running of the Council was a huge culture change for us. We were working to pull the Council round, and had serious council duties as well as our own wards to run, and our reputation as caring grassroots politicians to keep up.
At the same time Warrington South was chosen by the national party as a target marginal for the coming General Election which meant an exponential change in our campaigning.
Our PPC Jo Crotty joined us and Regional Campaign Manager Neil Trafford was a regular visitor running Jo’s campaign. We acquired a town centre office, a paid agent, a twin drum printer, a folding machine, a row of laser printers and a cash turnover of tens of thousands. It was a big change from working out of the garden shed!
At the 2008 elections we made another 2 gains from Labour but the Tories were already pouring money into Warrington South and working hard preparing for the General Election. We lost the Hatton, Stretton and Walton seat to the Conservatives – our first loss since 1991 and a warning of things to come.
.
The General Election May 2010.
At the General Election we fought our toughest campaign ever and had high hopes of success. Help poured in from all round the Region and our office was open almost 24 hours a day. But as everyone now knows after a fortnight of manic media support for Lib Dems the result was a big disappointment for Lib Dems everywhere. In Warrington South the Conservatives won and we came third though with a good vote. In Warrington North labour held the seat as expected.
Labour support was much stronger than anyone predicted, especially in the North, and this spilled over into the Local elections held on the same day and we lost 4 council seats back to Labour.
In Government with the Conservatives
Labour lost the election and, true to form, refused to talk about any deal with the Lib Dems. A coalition with the Tories was the only way to give the country a stable government quickly, so as not to lose the AAA credit rating on the country’s huge debts. Had a second election been run the Conservatives would very likely have won an overall majority.
The coalition was the best thing for the country but did us no favours in political popularity. We took another kicking at the local elections in 2011, and lost six more seats to Labour who took back control of the Council.
So here we are – back in opposition and with 17 councillors. It’s a blow, but we made huge strides for the town while in power and know now how good we are and what we can achieve. We are still taking the lead on the Council; the projects we set up are bearing fruit; the party is in good shape and our councillors still the best!
Nothing is easy for a third party and no-one joins the Lib Dems unless they believe passionately in the project. For us politics is about getting things done not just getting power by fair means or foul.
