Cambridge Independent, 6th May 2025
The elections are over and the voters of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have spoken!
It’s a shame that turnouts, as is so often the case in local elections, were so low with under 33% of the electorate voting for their choice of a new Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and just over 36% in the Cambridgeshire County Council elections. It is hard for candidates who work so hard to get their messages across, to know that almost two thirds of the electorate have not turned out to vote.
For me, the key takeaway is that four party politics has well and truly arrived and it is fair to say it has thrown up a mixed bag of results locally!
Whilst losing overall vote share, the Lib Dems have taken a majority 31 seats at Cambridgeshire County Council and will no doubt form an administration. This was made possible by the rise of Reform, who took 10 seats from a standing start and also took significant vote share away from other parties in seats they did not win. Conservatives and Labour both suffered losses, ending on 10 and 5 seats respectively, with the Green Party ending on a creditable 3 (all new gains) and the final 2 seats going to Independents. So whilst the County Council will still be under Liberal Democrat leadership, things will look and feel quite different at New Shire Hall. The Lib Dems will only have a three-year administrative term due to Local Government Reorganisation which will see the abolition of the County Council in May 2028 and the election of councillors to the new “shadow” unitary authority or authorities in May 2027. Yes, elections are never far away!
It is a big commitment to put yourself in front of the electorate to be judged and we should recognise and thank all those outgoing Councillors, some of whom had years of service behind them, as well as all those Candidates that stood this year. I applaud them all.
Perhaps the most significant change of the night was that of the Mayoralty moving back into Conservative hands away from Labour, with the election of Conservative Paul Bristow with a convincing majority. Given the result of the County Council moving into Lib Dem hands, there was surprise in some quarters that the Lib Dem candidate was pushed into fourth place in the race for Mayor.
Paul ran a hugely energetic campaign and was the only Mayoral candidate to publish a manifesto, which you can read by going to: https://www.paulbristow.org.uk/my-manifesto. It contains interesting structural and cultural changes to the Combined Authority as well as Paul’s policy plans and, with new Mayoral powers being handed down from Government the Mayor is set to be a powerful voice in the county.
During his election campaign, Paul stated his desire to work collaboratively with all members of the Combined Authority Board (which is normally made up of the Leaders of the constituent authorities) and of course I am looking forward to supporting Paul with the implementation of his manifesto promises.
I have taken some personal comfort in noting that, when it comes to county wide elections, the voters of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are still voting blue; Conservatives won the Police and Crime Commissioner election, gained the most votes in the General Election and won the Mayoralty. Does the result at the County Council mean that I am suddenly no longer a fan of “first past the post”? Absolutely not – I remain steadfast that it is the best system, giving those that are successful the full ability to implement their policy proposals without compromise.
Anna Bailey
East Cambs District Council, Member for the Downham Ward
Leader of the Council
Deputy Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
Chairman of East Cambs Community Land Trust
Deputy Chair Political of Ely & East Cambridgeshire Conservative Association
