Last Thursday, May 4, 2023 was a day to remember: it was election day and in the local Rother elections Rye and Winchelsea ward had six candidates standing.
The candidates were Cheryl Creaser (Labour, 608 votes), Simon McGurk (Labour, 606 votes), Guy Harris (Liberal Democrat, 506 votes), Chris Hoggart (independent, 355 votes), Gennette Stevens (Conservative, 435 votes) and Jayne Stevens (Conservative, 371 votes).
Voting was slightly different this year with voters being required to provide proof of identity before being able to register their vote but the voters turned out despite this somewhat controversial new government directive.
At 6:40pm on Friday, May 5, the result for the Rye and Winchelsea seats was announced. It has been described as a red letter day as constituents voted Labour with Cheryl Creaser and Simon McGurk being elected locally. The Conservatives lost five of their previously held 15 seats, Labour gained an additional five seats and the Liberal Democrats holding of seven seats remained unchanged. The Green Party gained two extra seats and the independents have seven councillors. Nationally the Conservatives lost over 1,000 seats with Labour gaining 536 seats.
Congratulations to Cheryl and Simon whose pre-election statements were published in Rye News and whose pledges included fighting to save Rye pool, championing local businesses, greener transport, more affordable housing and a fairer, greener future.
Helena Dollimore, parliamentary candidate for Hastings and Rye tweeted: “We did it! Rye is a Labour gain x2. Rye and Winchelsea now has two fantastic Labour councillors who will work their socks off for you.”
Image Credits: Helena Dollimore .
Congratulations Cheryl and Simon, and I look forward to working with you at Rother.
Commiserations to Genette Stevens who lost her seat (The Rev Howard Norton has retired) and to the other unsuccessful candidates. A special mention for my Lib Dem colleague, Guy Harris who did well and fought a good campaign.
For completeness Lib Dems gained 407 seats nationally.
Congratulations indeed. And best of luck to Helena for next years election …
Thank you again to everyone who voted for me and Cheryl! We are still riding high on a fantastic result and an emphatic vote of confidence in us and in Labour. We are already working to fulfil our promises and will provide updates regularly.
Andrew, thank you for your kind words, I have no doubt we will be working hard for our communities. I think we have combined robust advocacy for our varying positions with civility and respect and I believe people care about these values in Rye and Winchelsea.
We have had such a marvellous reception since being elected, it has really confirmed for me at least why I wanted the honour of representing our communities and why I care about Rye and Winchelsea to the extent I do.
We will be in touch with residents soon to provide details of how to get in touch if you would like to. Meanwhile, once more in the words of Giovanni Pernice from Strictly, “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you”!
Yes, congratulations to Cheryl and Simon. So pleased at the increase in Labour representation on Rother DC. We are fortunate to have such good candidates to vote for. So why are our voter turnouts so low?
The few voters I’ve questioned have said this election was only local and they would definitely turn out for the National election.
Not good enough!
Every time someone says, ”they ought to do something…….’, they are likely to be talking about local government. It is a heavy responsibility and I admire those who put themselves forward to represent our needs at a local level. We need to vote to keep our democracy alive.