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Arabella Marsh (born 20 October 1956) was a British Conservative politician who served as Mayor of Bromland in Lincolnshire from 21 April 2013.

Biography[]

Arabella Whitland was born in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, England on 20 October 1956 to a middle-class English family. Whitland became a barrister in Scunthorpe, where she practiced law for 15 years before moving to the smaller town of Bromland in 1995 after her husband, Geoffrey Marsh, became the director of the local hospital. Marsh became involved in the Bromland Conservative Association, serving as its secretary from 2001 to 2005 and as its chairwoman from 2005 to 2013. In 2013, Marsh finally decided to run for the Bromland Town Council, campaigning on a platform of keeping taxes low to foster economic growth, supporting the inclusion and integration of Bromland's growing South Asian community, and respecting local traditions and values. Bromland, a town which was, until the 1980s, a Labour-leaning town, voted in 11 Conservatives to its 30-member Town Council, with Marsh heading her party list and taking her seat on the Town Council on 7 April 2013. On 21 April 2013, with the support of 19 town councillors (including all of her party's councillors, those of the UKIP and the Liberal Democrats, and Labour councilwoman Felicity Hawkins), Marsh was appointed Mayor of Bromland; in contrast, Labour leader Gale Rogers won just 10 votes (from her party and the Green Party).

Mayoralty[]

Marsh assumed office as Mayor of Bromland immediately after the council voted her in on 21 April 2013. While the centrist Marsh sought to invest in public education, both Labour and UKIP voted to fund research into policing methods, and the council voted in favor of police research over school research in a 15-14 vote on 12 May 2013. On 19 May, UKIP leader Albie Ellis proposed a public housing bill which was passed by a 20-2 margin, with the young neoliberal Tories Flynn Simpson and Ralphy Marsh being the only councilmembers to vote against the bill. On 1 September 2013, the council voted 18-4 to approve a bus transport service for the town, and, on 6 October 2013, the council voted 14-9 to legalize gambling (with UKIP and factions of Labour opposing the bill). On 10 November, the Conservatives and UKIP allied in a 14-11 Council vote to abolish the unpopular consumption tax, and the Council went on to vote 19-5 against removing mayoral term limits, 27-0 in favor of agriculture research, and 18-11 to hold elections every 35 weeks (with opposition from the Conservatives and Greens preventing the election reform from reaching its necessary quorum). On 23 February 2014, after a week of fundraising, the Conservatives raised £241,000, followed by Labour with £193,000, UKIP with £129,000, the Liberal Democrats with £54,000, and the Greens with £42,000; this marked a severe drop in the Tories, Labour, and Lib Dems' fundraising, while UKIP's fundraising skyrocketed and the Greens raised the same amount of money as the year before. On 2 March, the Council voted 12-11 in favor of a press freedom amendment to the town charter, but opposition from UKIP and factions of the Tories and Labour prevented the amendment from reaching the necessary threshold to pass. On 9 March, the Council also voted 15-10 to approve arts subsidies, with the Greens, UKIP, and half of the Tories voting against unnecessary expenditure; by then, the town's budget was at £214,000, with a weekly decline of £1,000. Within three weeks, the weekly decline in the budget had risen to £3,000. On 20 April 2014, Conservative councillor Jagad Mistry's embezzlement of £30,000 from his party's coffers led to UKIP exploiting the scandal to attack the Tories in a media interview. On 27 April, new elections were held, and the Conservatives won 38.7% of the vote and 11 seats (retaining their seat count), Labour winning 28.94% and 9 seats (Esmee Francis losing her seat), UKIP rising to 18% of the vote and 5 seats (retaining their seat count), the Liberal Democrats winining 8.98% of the vote and 3 seats (Shuaib Abdullah winning a seat), and the Greens winning 5.38% of the vote and 2 seats (retaining their seat count).

On 11 May 2014, Marsh was re-appointed Mayor of Bromland in a council vote of 17-11. Her second term saw the town grapple with a budget crisis, as, by the week after she had recaptured the mayoralty, the budget had shrunk to £190,000, with a continued weekly decline of £3,000. The Council voted 13-12 against an agricultural subsidy, 27-2 in favor of road maintenance, 16-6 to retain the bus transport service, 17-5 to back Lillie King's proposed income tax, 11-9 to legalize prostitution (with Conservative councillor Eben Balsam being the only Tory to vote in favor), 17-10 against a land tax, 16-10 to approve a housing tax, and 28-1 to retain the robbery penalty. In November 2014, UKIP began a six-week-long series of protests in order to regain its fading popularity, and only the Liberal Democrats and Greens experienced increased fundraising in January 2015. In the 18 May 2014 elections, the Conservatives won 37.62% of the vote and 11 seats, Labour won 28.74% and 98 seats, UKIP won 18.1% and 5 seats, the Liberal Democrats won 9.03% and 3 seats, and the Greens won 6.51% and 2 seats, with each party retaining its previous seat count. On 31 May 2015, the Council voted 11-4 against a 10% electoral threshold, and Marsh was re-elected a week later by a margin of 16-8.

During Marsh's third term, the council voted 19-0 to approve parks, 9-6 to continue road maintenance, 12-7 to protect plant varieties, 13-4 to keep arts subsidies, 14-7 for an air pollution monitor, 11-7 to keep gambling legal, 12-6 for press freedom (again failing to meet the threshold due to 9 abstentions from the Conservative Party), 18-5 to abolish the income tax, 14-9 for press freedom (failing to meet the threshold due to 6 abstentions from the Tories), 12-11 in favor of party funding (failing to meet the threshold due to 7 abstentions), 18-6 to keep the housing tax, and 13-11 for a pollution tax. On 12 June 2016, new elections were held, and the Conservatives fell to 36.07% and 11 seats, Labour fell to 28.55% and 9 seats, UKIP rose to 20.22% and 6 seats (Rupert Sutton winning a seat), GPEW rose to 8.16% and 2 seats, and the Liberal Democrats falling to 6.99% and 2 seats (Shuaib Abdullah losing his seat). On 19 June, the Council voted 25-1 to introduce direct elections for the mayoralty, and, a week later, in the last election held among council members, Marsh was re-elected with 18 votes to Gale Rogers' 9.

Marsh's fourth term saw the Council vote 13-9 to lower the voting age to 16 (failing to meet the threshold due to 6 abstentions), 19-4 against a car tax, 13-6 to keep gambling legal, 17-7 to fund a driving license program, and 11-9 against vehicle emission limits. Starting on 5 March 2017, UKIP began a ten-week series of protests against the rising immigrant population, and these protests were met by counter-protests from the Liberal Democrats. In the 2 July 2017 elections, the Conservatives won 36.15% of teh vote and 11 seats, Labour fell to 28.28% and 8 seats (Adhip Kotak losing his seat), UKIP won 23.99% and 7 seats (Bennie Foster winning a seat), the Liberal Democrats fell to 6.46% and 2 seats, and the GPEW fell to 5.2% and 2 seats. Two weeks later, Marsh defeated Rogers by a margin of 57.8% to 42.2%, securing her re-election as Mayor.

Marsh's fifth term saw the Council vote 16-10 against a four-term limit for the Mayor, 14-10 to abolish the housing tax, 16-6 against a car tax, 14-9 to keep the driving license program, 23-6 to continue the protection of plant varieties, 13-10 to implement public libraries, 14-10 to introduce multi-party elections for the mayoralty (although the bill did not make the threshold), 12-10 to keep the bus transport service, and 12-9 in favor of vehicle emission limits. In early 2018, UKIP began a new round of anti-immigration protests, and UKIP began to catch up to Labour in fundraising, raising £162,000 to Labour's £180,000 and the Tories' £290,000. Faced with a looming recession, the Council voted 20-1 to abolish the agricultural subsidy, but the economy continued to decline. On 24 June 2018, UKIP leader Albie Ellis suddenly resigned from the council and left politics, and he was succeeded as UKIP leader by Bennie Foster, who helped lead efforts to abolish the air pollution monitor in a 15-2 vote. The council also voted 18-4 to approve a housing tax. On 22 July 2018, new elections were held, and the Conservatives won 37.19% of the vote and 11 seats, UKIP won 26.54% and 8 seats (Darcy Adams winning a seat), Labour fell to 26.36% and 8 seats, the Greens rose to 5.43% and 2 seats, and the Liberal Democrats fell to 4.47% and 1 seat (Aubrey Lawson losing her seat). On 5 August 2018, she won re-election with 65.8% of the vote to Foster's 34.2%.

The Council voted 16-10 for highway tolls, 26-0 to lower the town's constitutional amendment threshold to 50%, 16-9 to approve a land tax, 13-10 for freedom of the press (UKIP ironically voting against it whilst holding protests), 16-10 to outlaw prostitution, 15-11 against a car tax, 21-7 to scrap arts subsidies, 10-9 against universal healthcare, and 14-10 to keep a driving license program. UKIP surged in support after attacking both the Tories and Labour for their economic policies, but this was reversed after Bert Fraser's corruption scandal in May 2019, resulting in Bennie Foster firing him and replacing him with Cherry O'Brien.

On 12 August 2019, new elections were held. The Tories fell to 32.84% and 10/30 seats (Ruhi Thakre lost her seat), UKIP rose to 29.15% and 9/30 seats (Sierra Blagden won a seat), Labour rose to 28.06% and 8/30 seats, the Liberal Democrats rose to 6.03% and 2/30 seats (Aubrey Lawson gained a seat), and the GPEW fell to 3.92% and 1/30 seats (Caelan Dixon lost his seat). In spite of the loss of a seat to UKIP, Marsh won re-election by a margin of 64.1% of the vote of Foster's 35.9%.

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