Brentwood Local Elections

The elections this week didn't produce the set of results we wanted.

Our local election campaigns, as always, have been strongly influenced by National news and media coverage. The effect and handling of Covid-19 and Brexit matters has not been straight forward, and it is very clear that many Conservative voters have decided to stay loyal. On the doorsteps across Brentwood many people expressed to having major concerns about the Prime Minister and the way his government have handled events and how ministers have conducted themselves. We also picked up that there are a very large number of local people who are very dissatisfied with the Conservatives at a local level. However, we as well as the Labour and Green Parties, have not managed to persuade enough of them to vote for one of us, or even vote at all. It is critical that there is a strong opposition voice to ensure that the Conservatives manage responsibly rather than the cavalier and uncaring way we regularly and increasingly see.

Firstly, the positives. A big congratulations to Martin Cuthbert winning in Warley, he will do an outstanding job representing the residents of that ward. Also, a great effort from Alison Fulcher and David Kendall getting voted back in - a reflection on the work they have done in their wards over the years. Similarly, for Barry Aspinall, who retained his County division (Brentwood North).

However, despite those individual successes, as a local party we are reflecting on the fact that we have been unable to win our target seats. In addition, we are devastated that we were unable to get enough votes for Karen Chilvers to retain Brentwood West and David to retain his County Division (Brentwood South). We thank them for many, many years of dedicated service and critical help they have provided to so many Brentwood residents irrespective of their voting allegiance.

As an executive we will start a period of reflection and look at what we did right, what went wrong and look at putting in place steps to make the improvements we need to enable us to maximise our vote in future elections.

All constructive feedback is welcomed. What are your views on the literature we produced? Did you receive a call when we were out canvassing? If so, do you have any feedback on that? Any comments on what we were posting (or not posting) on our social media platforms or website? I would appreciate any comments or feedback on the effectiveness of the Facebook advertising we ran. Any thoughts or feedback you have on our campaign please send them through to: brentwood.ongarlibdems@gmail.com

Thank you for your ongoing support and of course your votes. We will keep fighting so that Brentwood has a powerful and loud liberal voice.