Lib Dems fastest growing party in Hanworth Park By-election

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 14th Jul 2007

Liberal Democrat by-election candidate Simon Martin has today thanked the people of Hanworth Park for their strong support in Thursday's by-election. Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr Andrew Dakers called the result "solid" for the party, which now has the fastest growing support in Hanworth Park. In contrast the Tories lost 25% of their vote in real terms.

Simon Martin, Liberal Democrat by-election candidate, said:

"This has been an exciting and hard fought campaign. I would particularly like to thank all those that supported me and the Liberal Democrats on Thursday.

"I will continue to campaign hard for all the people of Hanworth Park and push the Conservative-led council to start to tackling the neglect of local streets and parks."

Cllr Dakers, Leader of Hounslow Liberal Democrats, added:

"This is a solid result. The Liberal Democrats are the only party to increase its vote on a reduced turnout. We also had the highest percentage increase of any party - 4% - making us the fastest growing party in Hanworth Park.

"This election was fought hard by all three main political parties as the result could have changed the balance of power on Hounslow Council. The Tories lost 25% of their vote in real terms. This was a deserved hit given the resignation of their previous councillor Harley Buckner who was clearly left unsupported by the Tory group."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Results of Hanworth Park by-election

May 2006 July 2007 Change in % vote share

Conservative 1392 44.3% 1054 41.1% -3.2%

Labour 813 25.9% 729 28.4% +2.5%

Lib Dems 498 15.8% 507 19.8% +4%

H. Ind. Alliance 440 14.0% 201 7.8% -6.2%

Greens n/a n/a 73 2.9% +2.9%

Turnout was down 6% from 38.3% to 32.3%. This is a high turnout for a by-election.