Liberal Democrats Retain Both Seats in Milford By-Elections

Friday, 16 October 2026 08:42

Salisbury's Liberal Democrats are celebrating after retaining both seats after Alan Bayliss resigned from both Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council for personal reasons in September.

Polling stations were open in the Milford Ward yesterday (15th October) with constituents voting for a new councillor for both the county and city councils.

Liberal Democrat councillors won both polls, crucially in the Wiltshire Council vote to retain their control of the administration with 42 seats.

In the Wiltshire Council poll, Mac Brown received 759 of the vote, beating the Conservative candidate Laura Jones (605) into second place.

The full result with a 41.49% turn was as follows:

Sony Assuon (Lab) 110
Laura Jones (Con) 605
Simon Lever (Ref) 189
Mac Brown (LD) 759

In the Salisbury City Council election, Lawrence Gillies topped the count for the Liberal Democrats with 751 votes, again beating Laura Jones into second place.

Lawrence Gillies told the Salisbury Journal, "I feel relieved, excited, happy, and proud because this is my first time standing, never mind being elected to anything, so I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into it.

"I am excited to start getting to grips with the role and meeting all of my fellow councillors. It is going to be a big learning curve for me.

"Thank you very much to everyone who voted for me and everyone who worked so hard to get me here in the first place; I couldn't have done this without the team. I am very proud to represent all of the voters who came out."

Speaking to the Salisbury Journal, Mac Brown said: "I feel absolutely delighted to have been elected for the Wiltshire Council seat.

"I am looking forward to representing the interests of the people of Milford and all of the issues that we know that Al Bayliss did such a good job of working on, and taking that great work forward.

"I am absolutely delighted that so many people came out and supported us to continue the stability and the good work that we've done and following on from the good work that Al Bayliss did here in Salisbury."

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