Debbie Thiara
Labour win Aldborough by-election
by Zjan Shirinian , News Editor
Friday, November 11, 2011
10:02 AM
Labour has won the Aldboorugh by-election, taking the seat by more than 300 votes.
Newly elected Cllr Debbie Thiara will now join Conservative Cllrs Ruth Clark and Vanessa Cole representing constituents in the ward.
She polled 1,436 votes in yesterday’s election, with Conservative candidate Melvyn Marks getting, 1,071 votes.
No other candidate reached three figures in the count at Redbridge Town Hall, High Road, Ilford.
Liberal Democrat Christopher Greaves was third with 87 votes, United Kingdom Independence Party candidate Paul Wiffen was fourth with 83 votes, ahead of the Green Party’s Clive Durdle with 64 votes and the British National Party’s Daniel Warville who got 34 votes.
Turnout was 24.6 per cent and four ballot papers were rejected.
Cllr Thiara said: “I am thrilled and honoured by the opportunity to serve the people of Aldborough.
“As well as the genuine anger over the Tories’ betrayal on King George Hospital, I’ve picked up concerns about school places, care for the vulnerable and the local environment.
“I will be getting to work straight away and will work tirelessly for every resident. All I want to do is to make a difference for the people I now represent.”
Labour group leader Cllr Jas Athwal said Cllr Thiara will be an “outstanding champion for the people of Aldborough”.
Conservative council leader Cllr Keith Prince said: “Mid-term by-elections are notoriously difficult for the party in government.
“In this case it became difficult with the King George announcement.
“The fact that out share of the vote only slipped by five percentage points in a mid-term by-election is a real testament to Melvyn and his team and I am confident we will return three Conservative councillors in 2014.”
He added: “The real story is probably the collapse of the Liberal Democrat vote share from 14 per cent to barely three per cent.”
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4 comments
I note your comments,ex-councillor Hickey.They are of your usual low standard. All three Labour candidates did very well and one was elected,in 1998. I also stood in 2006 and lost to the Liberal Democrats. You know what it is like to lose to the Liberal Democrats,when the electorate threw you out of Church End ward. At least I stood and unlike you I do not spend a lot of time on many websites,criticising conservative councillors and the ConservativeLib-Dem. run council. In the recent past you have urged people to stand for the council,to help get rid of this administration. Is it a case of do as I say not as I do,Morris?
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David Morgan
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Comes nowhere near, Mr Morgan, the standards you set when you stood as a Labour Party candidate - and lost.
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Morris Hickey
Friday, November 11, 2011
Poor old Morris.Another tirade of complaints against Keith Prince. Why did you not put yourself forward as an independent candidate in the recent by-election? You think you know it all so we could have seen how many votes you would have got .
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David Morgan
Friday, November 11, 2011
Perhaps, Councillor Prince, it was also a judgement on YOUR council's parking charges fiasco, YOUR council's parking charges in parks, YOUR council's hostility towards motorists, YOUR council's abolition of the Parks Police, YOUR council's failure to provide for the elderly and vulnerable, YOUR council's failure to reduce staff costs, YOUR council's ability to jack up charges, YOUR council's threat to the future of the KMT, the Drama Centre, and the Music School, and YOUR OWN ability to anger people.
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Morris Hickey
Friday, November 11, 2011