Wednesday 9 May 2007

Oh well, life goes on

I didn't get elected to North Ayrshire Council. Bugger, blast, damnation and f**c!!!
Actually not - Catherine missed out in the Carse of Gowrie too (she on the 5th count and me on the 7th), we both hit the woodwork. No gloating Mr Dale of the Tory persuasion. Well I shall allow you a small gloat on the basis that it was a Tory who nipped in ahead of me for the 4th seat in the new multi-member ward although the Tory group went down from 5 to 3.

I'm disappointed of course, but the fact that we both lost means that we can actually start to plan a future together rather than spending most of our time 90 miles apart. No rush, no hurry but we have plans.

The really good news, however, is that Ruby got elected in Irvine East and Andrew in Kilwinning. I'm over the proverbial moon for them especially as they are the first Liberals elected in Irvine & Kilwinning for over 60 years - yes we made the breakthough which we have worked bloody hard to achieve. I know that they will be a credit to our party and excellent Councilors. Well done!

I would also like to thank everyone who voted for me in Irvine West and assure them that the Focus leaflets will still keep coming. My thanks also go to the 1977 people who voted for me as their MSP. This is a rise of just under 2% from last time, which was pleasing on a night which didn't go the way we hoped.

Jim Hume was elected as a South of Scotland list MSP and I'm really confident that Jim will be an excellent Parliamentarian and a first class standard bearer for Liberal Democracy across the whole of the South of Scotland.

When I returned home in 1999 we had no Lib Dems representing us at any level of government in Ayrshire. We now have Councillors, a MSP, a Lord and a MEP - that's what I call progress!!

3 comments:

Iain Dale said...

Commiserations! At least I am not the only Iain Dale to have lost an electioN!

Anonymous said...

Hello Iain! It's James Harrison here, the ginger-haired 17 year old who came to help you leafletting a few weeks ago.
I'm sorry you and Catherine weren't elected, I was eager to hear how it went after the election. But I'm glad Andrew got in, he now has something to keep him busy after University!
I was at the vote count where Jeremy Purvis was re-elected, and it's great Jim got in (I found your blog here by typing "Jim Hume MSP" on Google)
All the best for the future!

youngdegsy said...

Iain, bad luck. I have a feeling, though, that your colleagues' success in Irvine and Kilwinning was in large measure down to you. The first LD concillors in many years in any part of Ayrshire. As an Ayrshireman and Lib Dem it makes me very proud. Now all we need to do is storm the bastions of Alloway and Troon ...