A good result and very nearly a great one

The Lib Dem vote share in Derbyshire Dales went up and Sue Burfoot retained her seat in Matlock & Tansley with a significantly increased majority.

Despite standing down in two County Divisions, we polled 19.1% of the vote, up from 17.4% in 2017 when we stood 6 candidates.

Both Labour and Conservative vote shares went DOWN, by 2.8% and 1.7% respectively.

It was the Green vote that increased most significantly, by 9% overall.

In the Matlock and Tansley Division Sue Burfoot secured 57.8% of the vote, up from 42.3% in 2017. This was an emphatic victory for the Lib Dems following an excellent election campaign with both Labour and Conservative vote shares going down by 11.5% and 9.7% respectively. In her speech following the count, Sue commented "I regard this increased majority as a mandate to push for the implementation of my road safety campaigns, including a wider introduction of '20 is plenty' schemes in the area. I will also pursue the problems of neglected infrastructure, flooding and unsustainable development".

In Derwent Valley Division where we were the only party standing in opposition to the Conservatives, Claire Cadogan secured 45% of the vote, up from 15% in 2017 when there was a four way contest. Interestingly the Conservative vote also declined here, by 1.9%, despite the expectation that the UKIP vote from 2017 (6.1%) would have gone to the Tories in 2021. An impressive result following a great campaign.

Peter Dobbs came second in Ashbourne with 12% of the vote (down from 19.9% in 2017 when there was a three way contest with UKIP and the Tories). Again the Conservative vote share went down from 2017 to 2021 (73.4% to 67%). Greens and Labour came third and fourth with 10.5% and 10.4% respectively. Neither party stood a candidate in 2017.

Paul Cruise came fifth in Wirksworth, securing 3.9% of the vote, down slightly from 5.7% in 2017. Again here, the Tory vote went down from 44.3% to 42.3% but not as much as the decrease in the Labour vote, down from 45% in 2017 to 38.8% and this is what lost Labour the seat. An interesting footnote to the Wirksworth campaign is that the official Tory candidate in 2017 stood again in 2021 as an independent. Without the blue rosette, his vote share dropped from 44.3% to 4.5%.

In the election for Police and Crime Commisioner, Lib Dem Stan Heptinstall came third out of four candidates with 13.8% of the vote.

Nationally the picture is a positive one with Lib Dems gaining control of one more Council to bring the total to 7 and electing 7 more councillors to increase the total number to 586.