UK local by-elections 2015

[YL]

Good to see some purple minus signs.

Have Plaid ever considered standing in Oswestry?

[YL]

The Tower Hamlets mayoral by-election is on Thursday.  (Whoever thought having an elected mayor in Tower Hamlets was a good idea anyway?)  Based on past form, maybe we'll know the result by about Sunday.

There is also an ordinary by-election in Tower Hamlets, in Stepney Green ward, plus another London by-election and a delayed election in Wyre Forest (where the local political scene is also quite strange).  Holy Word here.

[YL]

Wrexham, Llay

Lib Dem 52.2 (+52.2)
Lab 26.3 (-39.6)
Ind Dodd 9.2
Con 4.8 (+4.
UKIP 4.5 (+4.5)
Ind Broderick 3.1

Any idea what was going on here?

(Also, how do you pronounce the name of this place?  "Ll" looks very Welsh, "ay" looks very not Welsh.)

[YL]

Unusually for a Tuesday, there was a by-election yesterday for West Mainland ward of Orkney.  Orkney's local politics have generally been totally dominated by Independents, but a group called the Orkney Manifesto Group, who obviously have to be referred to as OMG, are trying to challenge this; a handful of the councillors elected at the last election were members, and they're now a registered political party.  The by-election was caused by the death of one of their councillors: more details on Andrew Teale's preview.

Result:
OMG 593
Ind 446
Green 115

(decided on first preferences)

So an OMG hold.

[YL]

#lolbarnsleytories

It would have been an even more beautiful result if Yorkshire First had somehow sneaked ahead of UKIP.

The core of Goldthorpe, well known for its enthusiasm for the Conservative Party and its former leaders, seems to be in Dearne South ward, but part is indeed in Dearne North.

[YL]

Holy Words here and here.

I see there is a Libertarian candidate in the double election in Aberdeenshire; it's been a while since I've noticed one of those.  I wonder how many votes he will get.

[YL]

Torbay, Clifton-with-Maidenway

Lib Dem 69.2 (+37.3)
Con 14.8 (-10.7)
UKIP 10.0 (-11.1)
Lab 3.3 (-9.9)
Green 2.7 (-5.6)

The winning Lib Dem was the former MP for Torbay, Adrian Sanders.