Laura Cavaliere won the Witley & Milford By-Election yesterday with a massive 58%, or perhaps 43.5% turnout—one of, if not the highest, in the country!
She replaces Witley & Milford: Lib Dem campaigner Andrew Law, who represented Witley, Milford and Brook, who died in January.
Conservative candidate Gary Hudson came second, with Independent Tony Sollars in third place.
Here was the makeup of Waverley Borough Council – before the Witley and Milford By-Election
| Conservative | 10 |
| Farnham Residents | 13 |
| Liberal Democrat | 22 |
| Green Party | 1 |
| Labour | 2 |
| Independent | 2 |
Don’t forget to vote. Today’s the day.
58% turn-out really?
You ought to tell Waverley BC, they think it’s 43.5%
May 2023 turn-out was 41.7%
We beg your pardon – we were told at the count that it was the former.
https://www.facebook.com/WaverleyBC
I think they got it wrong when they initially called it out
Waverley Web and Paul Follows may think holding onto your existing seat is a boost – I think you/they will be breathing a huge sigh of relief.
Is holding onto your existing seat really a boost? I suspect you and Paul Follows will be breathing a huge sigh of relief. I live in Milford and Cllr Follows had dozens of his team working the street for days on end (they even came to my door twice and neither of them know the name of the previous LibDem Councillor for this seat) Clearly would not be good for him to loose this one with General Election on the horizon
We suspect holding onto the seat was a boost for the Lib CDems as the Independent candidate was a very strong candidate. However, here at the WW,we are not breathing a huge sigh of relief. We actually wish all local parish, borough and central government MP’s were all Independent as they once were – long ago. Might be a little more harmony and a little less fighting for fighting sake. No councillor or party has the monopoly on good ideas – if it in the interest of the people of Waverley or the country, then vote for it
Couldn’t agree more.
The Tories finished second 250 votes short of winning, not third. The Independent polled 526. It’s highly likely that enough traditionally Tory inclined voters, disappointed by the current state of their usual party of choice and policies like Rwanda, backed the Independent candidate to make the difference here. So the Independent candidates inclusion may have actually helped rather than hindered the Lib Dems in the end.