The Conservatives celebrated by-election victory on Thursday night (October 10) after securing nearly double the Labour vote - in a seat they only just held onto by nine votes last May. The Addlestone South poll was called following the death of ' passionate, hardworking' Runnymede Borough Councillor Jonathan Wilson.
His seat will be filled by former borough press officer Steve Eldridge who left the council earlier this year to work for the developers Crest Nicholson. Councillor Eldridge was elected after receiving 55.9 per cent of the votes cast in the Thursday, October 10 by-election. The hold leaves the Conservatives on 13 council seats; still the single largest party but not enough to form a working majority with the borough still operating under four co-leaders from Labour, Independents, Liberal Democrats, and Green.
The swing, however, has encouraged the local Tory party that its fortunes, could be about to turn as they start what they hope is their journey back to power. Councillor Peter Snow, leader of the Conservative group at Runnymede Borough Council, said: “This is just the beginning of a hard road back and we all understand that.
READ MORE: Northern Lights over Surrey as Met Office explains ‘dazzling’ display of pink hues
“Everything we’re touching now seems to be working but we recognise everything can change in a minute. I’m extremely proud of our candidate and our team, they absolutely worked their tails off. It was hard fought and we got the result, very proud that Addlestone South is all blue again.”
The seat had been held by former councillor Jonathan Wilson up until his death aged just 38. Jonathan was first elected to the council in 2008 and served on the council for three terms until May 2018. He was again re-elected in 2019 as a member for Addlestone South. Jonathan was said to be the calming influence on the council and a voice of reason. Cllr Snow described Jonathan as passionate about residents and dedicated to the committees he served on -and that these were traits that Cllr Eldridge shared.
Cllr Snow said: “Steve Eldridge is dedicated to residents and the community. He has the same attributes that Jonathan did. He’s all about residents, party politics comes beyond that.”
The final breakdown of the vote was:
- Jennifer Coulon, Liberal Democrats - 85
- Steve Eldridge, Conservative Party - 520 (elected)
- Elaine Percival, Labour and Co-Operative Party - 262
- Jess Ward, Green Party 63
- Turnout was 19.1 per cent.
