Big win in Bradninch tonight!

Compared to last time:

Liberal Democrats 650 votes 82.2%

Labour 92 votes 11.6%

Conservative 49 votes 6.2%

Our previous candidate was extremely popular in the town and sadly had to move to America for work mid-term. This by-election is the 4th in the constituency (Central Devon) since the 2024 GE and the 4th Lib Dem win!

This is Davey's full speech on energy from tonight. It ticked a lot of boxes for me and feels like he's making arguments that all of the other high-profile politicians are ignoring.

I love the lack of equivocation on whether or not there's a need to wean off fossil fuels. There's no "debate" to be had - we have no choice.

I love that he pushes ideas for how to actually do this, rather than empty goals. And that these are based on both modern developments and past experiences. Even better, there's a suggestion for how it would be initially funded - although I do wish he would just argue for an increase in income tax to fund all of the things we need to pay for.

I also love that the focus isn't superficial. People love to simplify problems and make statements like "insulation needs to be the top priority". Yes, insulation is important. So is energy generation, so are grid upgrades, so is storage. Davey's speech covers all of these instead of just highlighting one good option.

What do the rest of you think? I'm by no means knowledgeable about energy so would be interested to know if there are errors he's made here or things he should have said/acknowledged.

The green party's decline seems cemented now following their controversial conference and the st pancreas by election. Our support has been stuck, at least in part due to us voluntarily deciding to leace ourselves as a regional, locally-orientated party. But given the huge amount of overlap between our policies and progressive green voters on europe, transgender rights and the environment could we start to win over voters and finally grow our support after 2024? And if so, how can we do this?

I think if it is possible, it would be crucial for Ed Davey to protect his position as party leader into the next election. And there is definietly a chance considering we are still an established party without the level of controversy the Greens have.