Kennedy hails his party's highest share of vote
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Your support makes all the difference.Charles Kennedy said the Liberal Democrats were finally on equal terms with Labour and the Tories yesterday after local elections in which his party won its highest-ever share of the vote.
Mr Kennedy said senior Tories such as Theresa May, Michael Howard, Oliver Letwin and David Davis would be under threat if the results were repeated at a general election.
The Liberal Democrats' 30 per cent share of the vote, compared with 35 per cent for the Conservatives and 31 per cent for Labour, was certainly its best performance. The party gained more than 180 seats, holding on to 13 councils and gaining five more. Proving that it continues to spread its appeal in both urban northern and midlands areas and prosperous southern suburbs, it took councillors fairly evenly from both its main rivals.
The Liberal Democrat vote held up in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. But it was in the English councils that the party did best, taking Shepway, Waverley and Torbay from the Conservatives, Chesterfield and Durham from Labour, and Uttlesford, Bournemouth, Windsor and Maidenhead, Watford and York from no overall control. Its most spectacular results were in Torbay, where it gained 21 seats, Chesterfield and Durham, where it gained 17 seats, and Bournemouth and North Norfolk, where it gained 15.
If the swing away from the Tories was repeated at a general election, some 13 marginals would fall to the party, including Mr Davis's Haltemprice and Howden constituency and Mr Letwin's West Dorset seat. Ms May was put on notice after the Lib Dems took control of Windsor and Maidenhead with a gain of 13 seats. The aggregate constituency vote in Maidenhead worked out at 61 per cent for the Liberal Democrats with the Tories on 33.6 per cent.
The Greens got their best results in any elections since the 1989 European Parliament poll. The party now has more councillors in England and Wales than ever before.
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