LOCAL residents turned their backs on the local Tories in two recent council by-elections.

Towcester’s previous county councillor moved 200 miles away to Cornwall, but she remained on the council, claiming £7,000 a year in allowances. Then the Tories had the nerve to waste £3,000 of taxpayers’ money on an oil painting to commemorate her time as chair of the council, and that’s before the additional cost of framing the portrait, which is estimated at a further £1,500.

Both council seats in Towcester (one on Northants County Council and one on South Northants District Council), which were previously held by Conservatives, came up for election on 9 Feb. The massive swing to the local Lib Dems in Towcester demonstrates that people were unhappy with so many issues in this bluest of blue areas – the turning off of the streetlights, the closure of the toilets, the probable cutting of police numbers, the threat to local school crossing patrols, the totally unnecessary proposed move of the Towcester council offices. The Tories were not listening. Well on Thursday 9 February the people of Towcester made them listen.

The result for the county seat was:

Lib Dem (Chris Lofts) 1,279 (61%)
UKIP 124
Con 638
BNP 66

For the district council seat of Towcester Brook:

Lib Dem (Lisa Samiotis) 774 (59%)
Con 401
UKIP 129

Labour didn’t manage to put their papers in on time!