Taunton elects LibDems
It is not so long that Taunton Deane Borough Council was solid Conservative. Not any more. The results for the Somerset West & Taunton merged council saw the LibDems in the ascendency. Today that trend continued. Mother and daughter councillors Federica Smith-Roberts and Fran Smith won in Taunton East and Taunton South respectively. Cllr Smith Roberts’s rival for the leadership in SWT, Simon Coles took the other Taunton East seat. Hazel Prior-Sankey too the other Taunton South seat.
In Rowbarton and Staplegrove Dixie Darch and Derek Perry took both seats for the Libdems. Over in Bishop’s Hull and Taunton West Caroline Ellis won for the LibDems alongside the only Independent candidate elected so far, John Hunt.
The Conservatives thought the Lib Dem ascendancy was all down to John Williams malaise and Brexit protest over Theresa May – in reality there has been an arrogance and complacency within the local Conservative Party Association that was only masked by Pow beating the unelectable Amos easily in 2019. Until the Conservatives start to revise that they need to organise properly and actually campaign as if they mean it then the Lib Dems will continue to prosper.