West Devon Labour candidate will try again

One vote from winning a by-election

The Labour candidate who came within one vote of winning a by-election in West Devon and becoming the only person from her party on the council has pledged to continue working for the community and to stand again in future. 

20 year-old Isabel Saxby was beaten by Conservative candidate Alison Blackman in the Bere Ferrers ward, but pushed Liberal Democrat Graham Reed into third place. 

The by-election on 18 November followed the resignation of former Liberal Democrat councillor Robin Musgrave who stepped down for health reasons. 

Ms Saxby, a student at Plymouth University, spoke about her experience of the election and why she stood for election. “I really love the village,” she said. 

After losing by one vote Ms Saxby said: “I was a bit disappointed at first because one vote is a very small margin to come second by. 

“But after some reflection, it was actually really important to happen in the area because a lot of people here tactically vote.

“There was representation across the whole spectrum of all the parties, which was really important, and I got to meet a lot of people in the community and I can still do things around the village and help my local community.”

There were no hard feelings about the winning candidate, Alison Blackman, whom Ms Saxby praised.

“Angela Blackman seems like a fantastic woman,” she said.

“She’s a mum. She’s a woman. And although it will be business as usual, I think she’ll do some really good things for the local area because she cares about it.”

Ms Saxby explained her decision to stand for election came about in an unusual way.  

“This person from Labour was going around calling Labour members in the community and she called my dad, and my dad said, ‘No, absolutely not.’ And then he said, Well, actually, my daughter might like to do it.

“So my dad just recommended me and then I thought, okay, I’ll do that. I’ll go for it!

“I think it’s a fantastic opportunity to represent the people in the local community.”

She also explained her personal reasons for standing under a Labour banner.

“I’m a huge fan of the NHS,” she said. 

“I really think having accessible health care for all people is important. And at the end of the day, a Labour government did that.  A Labour government set up free school meals. A Labour government was able to remove workhouses. A Labour government did those things that really put Britain on the path we see today. 

“I think collective responsibility is important. And obviously taking your own responsibility for your own actions is important. But I think it’s really important to say, ‘We all messed up here’ sometimes – and I think Labour does that.”

Despite a change of Labour leadership since she became a member and disagreement among different factions, Ms Saxby is still committed to the party.

“At the end of the day I understand the transitions that Labour has gone through,” she said. 

“But we just have to accept that this is the party we have now and we can either build and work with the party we’ve got now to create something we want to see, or we can just sit back and go, ‘this isn’t what I wanted’ and then throw a tantrum.

“And I think you’ve got to work with what there is now.”

Ms Saxby said she won’t be giving up her political career after a single election and may consider spreading her wings a little wider in future. 

“To take it further I need to get involved around West Devon as a whole and actually set up and establish some ways of showing support for the wider community.”

She recognises she made mistakes from which she will learn but she is ultimately proud of her performance.  And she accepts that, as a younger candidate, her presence may have appealed to the youth vote but said it was more than that.

“Some of these Conservative voters changed. Long-term Conservative voters voted for me and said they would vote for me because they wanted to see someone energetic, dynamic, someone who would really represent the community.”

Ms Saxby has now pledged to work within the community for the people in Bere Ferrers and surrounding areas.  

She said: “I will continue doing community work. 

“I set up a litter-picking group in the village, so I’m going to try to attend that as frequently as I can.

“Obviously working against my studies because I’ve got to be in Plymouth for those – but attending the litter-picking group and still hoping to play a big role in that.

“Or the foodbank, I’d like to get involved with the foodbank and maybe do some food partnership work.

“Because we have a Morrisons and Tesco’s in Tavistock and a Lidl and maybe see if we can get some food from there.”

When asked if the foodbank was busy, Ms Saxby replied: “I think one person using it is quite busy! But there’s more than one person using it.”

She added the very fact foodbanks exist is a serious problem and one of many issues she hopes to tackle in the future.