IT was a disastrous county election for the Liberal Democrats, who lost two seats in Waverley and allowed the Conservatives to tighten their grip on Surrey County Council. Key Lib Dem losses in Farnham and strong blue votes in areas such as Haslemere were brought about by a huge turnout and a big swing from the Lib Dems towards the Conservatives. These factors, as well as boundary changes and the creation of extra council seats, helped the Tories to come out on top with 58 of the council's 80 seats. The biggest blows for the Liberal Democrats came in Farnham where before the council elections the party had held two of the town's three seats. However, internal disputes have dogged the Lib Dems in recent months and helped to contribute towards the losses. The Farnham North seat had been held by Lib Dem Janet Maines but the party took the controversial decision to de-select her as a candidate and instead opt for Mary Hunt to the defend the seat. Mrs Maines then took the decision to stand as an Independent and attracted a respectable number of votes. The Lib Dem's decision appears to have backfired and allowed Conservative candidate John Farmer to grab the seat with 2,418 votes. Ironically, the Lib Dems would have been likely to have won the seat if they had stuck with Mrs Maines. Her 1,558 votes along with the 2,093 votes cast for the Liberal Democrat candidate would have secured victory. Mr Farmer told The Herald that he believes the the Conservatives owed their success to both the growing Tory support as well as the Lib Dem internal problems. "We were able to take the opportunity which appeared for us," he said. Things went from bad to worse for the Liberal Democrats when it was later announced that the Conservative, Pat Frost, had also managed to win the Farnham Central division - another previously held by the Lib Dems. This coupled with the expected victory of existing Tory Farnham South county councillor, David Munro, meant that the Conservatives had managed a hat-trick in Farnham - considered a Lib Dem stronghold. Everything was going right for the Conservatives with an increased majority for Haslemere county councillor Christine Stevens another high. "There is now a huge amount to do over the next four years in Haslemere, that means working with all sorts of people and organisations to get this done," Mrs Stevesns told The Herald. "This has been a hard-fought, hard-working election and now we must move forward and roll up our sleeves." However, there was more good news to come for the Tories. Boundary shake-ups to accommodate an extra seat saw four new divisions up for grabs - Waverley Eastern; Waverley Western, Godalming South, Milford and Witley; and Cranleigh and Ewhurst - which the Conservatives comfortably won. The only piece of good news for the Liberal Democrats was in the Godalming North division, which was won by Chris Slyfield with a majority of 288 votes. Mr Slyfield told The Herald that the reduction meant that the Liberal Democrats would have to "fight a little bit harder" but pledged that his party would keep the ruling Conservatives "on their toes".
