In another bruising election for the Conservatives locally, the party held onto just two of the nine available Surrey seats across Waverley borough after the results were declared at The Edge Leisure Centre in Haslemere on Friday.
David Harmer held onto his seat in Waverley Western Villages, and Kevin Deanus took Waverley Eastern Villages for the Tories.
But elsewhere, Farnham Residents completed the job they came within 63 votes of completing in 2017 – Andy MacLeod holding onto his seat in Farnham Central, first time candidate Catherine Powell retaining Farnham North, and Michaela Martin adding Farnham South.
The Lib Dems also had plenty of cause to celebrate, with Haslemere mayor John Robini polling 287 votes more than his Tory rival Ged Hall to take the town’s county seat for the Lib Dems, Waverley Borough Council leader Paul Follows winning Godalming South, Milford and Witley by a huge margin of 1,158 votes, and the same party winning in Godalming North and Cranleigh and Ewhurst.
It came after voters headed to the polls on Thursday, May 6, for the first local elections since 2019, and the first county elections since 2017, with a strong turnout across Waverley borough of 42.3 per cent suggesting the pandemic had not kept voters away.
For a full list of election results in Waverley, visit https://www.waverley.gov.uk/Services/Council-information/Registering-to-vote-and-elections/Elections-on-Thursday-6-May-2021/Surrey-County-Council-elections
Full results, interviews and analysis to follow in next week’s Herald...