I want to say a big thank you for re-electing me as a Borough and County Councillor.

I was really touched to be re-elected, especially with such big majorities – I got 58% of the vote in my Woking South County seat and 60% of the vote in Hoe Valley Borough ward.  Thank you so much!

Across Woking, the Lib Dems had an amazing election result.  We gained 3 seats on Woking Borough Council and 1 seat on Surrey County Council, all from the Conservatives.

Lance Spencer gained the Goldsworth East and Horsell Village County seat off the Tories, defeating the Deputy Leader of the County Council in the process.

On the Borough Council, Ann-Marie Barker held her Goldsworth Park seat and we gained the Horsell, Mount Hermon and St John’s wards.  Congratulations to newly elected Councillors Adam Kirby, Ellen Nicholson and Dale Roberts – I know they will be brilliant additions to the Council and great champions for their communities.

The Lib Dems won 5 out of the 10 seats up for election, to the Conservatives’ 4 and 1 for Labour.  Following the election, Woking Council is now on a knife edge, with 13 Tories, 12 Lib Dems, 3 Labour and 2 Indies.  The Conservatives only remain the largest party due to the Council electing by thirds.  However, we have momentum and if these results are repeated at next year’s election, the Lib Dems will become the largest party.

Elsewhere in Surrey, the Lib Dems made 5 gains on the County Council – resulting in the largest Lib Dem Group there since the 1997 elections.  Although the Tories still have a majority, they have a majority of 6, notably down from before the election.

Finally, there was more election in Surrey that nearly had a very surprising outcome – the Police and Crime Commissioner election.  Everyone assumed the Conservatives would win this easily, but Lib Dem Paul Kennedy become the first Lib Dem ever to get into the second round of a PCC election.  The final result was a Tory win, but much more narrow one than anyone thought, they got 58% of the vote to the Lib Dems’ 42%.