“Gobsmacked”
Congratulations to brand new Labour councillor Bob Timbs! Last night, in a crucial by-election, not only did Labour held the Lye Valley seat vacated by Dan Paskins (pictured above, with Bob), but we increased our majority from 21 in May to nearly 300 now! The full results are here, and here’s the Oxford Mail’s report of it:
A jubilant Mr Timbs, of Normandy Crescent, Cowley, said after the result was declared shortly after 11pm: “I am gobsmacked. I thought it was going to be really tight.
“We won on local issues. People know me as chairman of the Horspath Road Residents and Tenants Association and they know they can rely on me.”
Mr Timbs said his priority would be to campaign against family homes being turned into multi-occupancy dwellings badly looked after by landlords.
Of course, there’s one other dimension to this result. The council is still in no overall control with a Lib Dem minority administration, but nearly five months after the local elections, Labour is back as the largest single party.
Update: the Guardian’s report is here.
Huge, huge well done. You obviously all worked really hard and deserve it. This gives me hope for our by election in Manchester.
Well done - and good news in today’s Guardian / ICM poll as Tory support drops by 10% (from 40 to 36). And still well over two years to go until the next general election campaign……
Proof positive that socialists can’t count.
Amazing result - well done Oxford Labour!