Well, another election over for another year and the outcome was a stunning night for the Conservative Party both nationally and locally. Locally, we gained another three seats from the Liberal Democrats, leaving the new council with 44 Conservatives and 4 Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives had 65% of the vote our best performance this century. The Liberal Democrats had 26% of the vote and the other parties were around 4% each. We must not however be complacent we have important elections next year with the County Council elections and though the last two parliamentary elections have been held on the same day as the County Council I doubt if that will occur next year given the state of the Labour Party at present. Indeed the experts are saying that it really does not matter when Gordon calls the next election, he is badly wounded, and he and his party cannot possibly recover in time for the next election, even if it is allowed to run full term. So there may be a surprise in store for us yet. In my customary way, may I thank everyone who voted yesterday and a particular vote of thanks if you happened to vote Conservative. We will not fail you. Roy Bullock MBE