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03
May
How the Lib Dems acquired the winning habit in Harrogate
For the third time in as many years, Harrogate Convention Centre reverberated to the whoops of delighted Liberal Democrats on Friday (May 2).
In 2022 the party won a majority of seats on North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee; last year Lib Dem Tom Gordon defeated Tory Andrew Jones in the general election; and on Friday the Lib Dems annihilated the opposition in the first ever Harrogate Town Council election.
They were expected to do well but the margin of victory, winning 15 of 19 wards, on a day when Reform UK made national headlines surprised many.
Chris Aldred, the Lib Dem party chairman for Harrogate and Knaresborough, summed up the feeling:
Harrogate is now officially a Lib Dem town. We have got the MP, the area committee and two town councils because we have Knaresborough as well as Harrogate.
This didn’t just happen overnight. We have been trying for this for years and we have been out there on the streets since January campaigning. Harrogate needs its own voice and we are going to provide it.
Local GP Viv Poskitt was among the wave of Lib Dem winners.
Mr Gordon was equally upbeat. He said: “People feel the Conservatives have left them behind. Harrogate used to be a moderate Conservative area and those voters are now seeing the Lib Dems as a party they can trust.”
Two seats for Tories
It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago for the Conservatives to do so badly in Harrogate. Only Elizabeth Jackson in Oatlands and Michael Harrison in Saltergate were elected, the latter scraping home after a recount by two votes.
Cllr Harrison wryly acknowledged the sea change in his acceptance speech by saying the Conservatives looked forward to holding the Lib Dems to account.
Michael Harrison won by two seats for the Tories in Saltergate.
Rebecca Reeve-Burnett, chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association, said there was “a lot of enthusiasm for our people and ideas for Harrogate Town Council” but “the national picture is incredibly challenging for us still”. She added: “We are coming back from a very, very difficult place”.
Asked if she felt the historic homophobic posts of Duchy councillor Anthony Murphy, who lost to Lib Dem Josy Thompson by 451 to 366 votes, were a factor she said: “We didn’t feel that on the doorsteps. It was an unwelcome distraction for a bit but I’m confident Ant would have been a good councillor.”
Conservative candidate Anthony Murphy
Mr Gordon, however, had a different view when asked about the subject: “At the start of the campaign Duchy was not a ward we thought we would win. The result wasn’t overly close. This is a tolerant town that welcomes people from all backgrounds and I’m really glad that Harrogate voted for hope and positivity.”
Andrew Jones, who was Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough from 2010 to 2024, said the story of the night was the discontent felt towards Labour and the Conservatives. Mr Jones, who said he had “thoroughly enjoyed” being back on the campaign trail, added:
There is always going to be room for a right of centre, economically coherent, pro-business party and we just now need to reconnect with all these deep Conservative instincts because our country needs those more than it has for a while.
Jonathan Swales
Reform 'now the opposition'
Reform UK made an impact, winning one seat and finishing second in many others, but could not repeat the scale of its national success.
Jonathan Swales, who chairs the local party, remained upbeat:
The story of the night was that the uniparty is no longer the only party around. Reform is the official opposition. We came second in most seats.
It would have been nice to win more seats, but the Lib Dem turnout was strong, their campaign was good. We campaigned hard but they are the incumbents and knocking someone off their perch is always harder. We’ve now got some good information from the polling as to where our vote lies and we can target and focus on our key areas.
Former taxi driver David Goodall, who now works as a forklift truck driver, was successful in Bilton Woodfield to become Harrogate’s first Reform UK councillor. He said he wanted to see fewer empty shops in Harrogate and described the £12.6 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme as a “vanity project wasting millions of pounds”.
Chris Watt (centre) with fellow Labour supporters.
No seats for Labour or Greens
It was a dismal day for Labour, which stood eight candidates and failed to finish higher than third in any ward.
Chris Watt, who was third for Labour in Kingsley, said:
It was always going to be tough for us. We were up against some well-resourced campaigns whereas the Labour Party has to rely on unpaid volunteers. The Liberal Democrats have made some very big promises so it’s time for them to stop blaming other people and actually get on and show some real delivery.
Asked why Labour had so few candidates, Mr Watt said: “Like all parties we targeted our resources. It’s just the same for Lib Dems who didn’t stand a single candidate for the new Scarborough Town Council.”
Green Party candidates
The Green Party also failed to win a seat.
Jo Webb, who finished second in Oatlands, said there was "some disappointment” but added:
There was a huge amount of support from the local community which was very gratifying and provides a good basis to go forward. Coming second in a number of constituencies is a great foundation for the future. This is the first time we’ve really tried in some of these wards so from a standing start we have done well.
Only two independents stood, and both were in the same ward — Old Bilton. County councillor Paul Haslam prevailed, winning 397 votes in the first seat to declare on the day. Reform UK took the second, but the day then turned into a procession for the Lib Dems.
You can read the full results here and recap what happened on the day here.
The next town council election is just two years away. It is being held in 2027 to bring it in line with the North Yorkshire Council election. Town councillors will then serve four-year terms. Which way will the political pendulum swing then?
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