U.K Local By-Elections Thread

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Seems as though Craven wasn't up last night (or if it was, PA haven't heard the result yet).
Anyways the Tories gained two seats last night... well... sort of... in South Kesteven they gained a seat off Labour... but... the Tory was actually unopposed. To make things stranger all three seats in the ward were unopposed last time round; and went one Tory, one Labour and one Indy. Can't think of any conclusions to be drawn from that, but I do wonder when the last time that ward (Market & West Deeping in case anyone be interested) actually had a contested election.
And it was a similer (if slightly less weird) story in Colwyn Bay where the Tories gained a seat off Plaid; Plaid didn't run a candidate, but this time round the ward wasn't uncontested; the LibDems put a candidate up.
In Staffordshire Moorlands the Tories just about held onto th Werrington ward in a seriously surreal race; they polled just over 25% of the vote. Labour, the LibDems and the BNP came close to winning (in that order).
And finally some good news for Labour; they held the very marginal (in local elections) Coundon ward in Wear Valley with only a microscopic swing from the last election.

Interesting fact; Labour still hasn't lost a seat in a contested local by-election in England or Wales this year, and it's March already. Will have to check to see when this was last the case...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Craven is up today. And although I'm not sure which other wards are up and where, I'm expecting the kinda-not-losing streak to end tonight (call me a pessimist if you want) as it has to sooner or later. Still, a good start to the year all told.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A bad night for the Tories saw them lose three seats; in Dacorum Labour seems to have stopped collapsing as they picked up a socially mixed (but more working class than the Herts average) ward on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead. The National Front took 7%; the highest I've seen them poll anywhere for quite a while (although even if you add all the NF votes to the Tories, Labour would still have won; albeit by 0.5%). Turnout was high for a local by-election (40%).
In Bedfordshire the LibDems trounced the Tories in a commuterland ward, winning by a solid margin in a ward that the Tories had won by a solid margin last election. And down in Somerset, the Tories lost a Frome ward to the LibDems on another high swing.
Other results last night were interesting; predictably the Tories won their usual Craven landslide with Labour doing pretty well (bearing in mind which ward this is) as well. Not a good result for the LibDems.
Labour won a convincing win in Middlesbrough and the LibDems failed to pick a seat of the Indies in Redruth. Better news for them elsewhere in Cornwall as they gained a seat in Bude off Mebyon Kernow (who didn't run a candidate).

[Rural Radical]

Was the Shrewsbury result (Monkmoor) the last Labour loss in a by election ?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Was the Shrewsbury result (Monkmoor) the last Labour loss in a by election ?

No; the last loss in a contested English/Welsh by-election was (as far as I can tell) the Chadsmead ward in Litchfield (lost by 11 votes to the Tories).

[Rural Radical]

Was the Shrewsbury result (Monkmoor) the last Labour loss in a by election ?

No; the last loss in a contested English/Welsh by-election was (as far as I can tell) the Chadsmead ward in Litchfield (lost by 11 votes to the Tories).

That was about November ?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

That was about November ?

Early (or was it Mid?) December IIRC.

[Rural Radical]

Al

 we lost the spencer ward in Nortrhampton to the Lib Dems on 9/2/06. But thtas the only one so far.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Al

 we lost the spencer ward in Nortrhampton to the Lib Dems on 9/2/06. But thtas the only one so far.

True; I remember reading something about the resigning counciller having defected though. Will have to check that.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Keighley West is up tonight. The BNP are rumoured to be very worried about losing it.
Another ward up (I think) is one of the LibDems very few Sunderland seats.

[Rural Radical]

Keighley West is up tonight. The BNP are rumoured to be very worried about losing it.
Another ward up (I think) is one of the LibDems very few Sunderland seats.

When were they last up ?

What was the results ?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What was the results ?

Both were last up in 2004. Keighley West was the BNP's best ward in Bradford MDC (and the only one in which they topped the poll)... which is why a loss there would be a big blow to them. Fingers crossed...

Keighley West [3 seats]:

BNP 1,659 - elected
Lab 1,417 - elected
Lab 1,354 - elected
Con 1,142
Con 1,108
Lab 1,073
Ind 903
Con 895
Ind 584
LibDem 582
LibDem 399
LibDem 345

Millfield [3 seats]:

LibDem 893 - elected
Lab 846 - elected
Lab 824 - elected
Lab 728
LibDem 629
Con 579
Con 570
LibDem 557
Con 530
BNP 360

Millfield could be hard for the LibDems to hold; depends who their candidate is really.

[Rural Radical]

What was the results ?

Both were last up in 2004. Keighley West was the BNP's best ward in Bradford MDC (and the only one in which they topped the poll)... which is why a loss there would be a big blow to them. Fingers crossed...

Keighley West [3 seats]:

BNP 1,659 - elected
Lab 1,417 - elected
Lab 1,354 - elected
Con 1,142
Con 1,108
Lab 1,073
Ind 903
Con 895
Ind 584
LibDem 582
LibDem 399
LibDem 345

Millfield [3 seats]:

LibDem 893 - elected
Lab 846 - elected
Lab 824 - elected
Lab 728
LibDem 629
Con 579
Con 570
LibDem 557
Con 530
BNP 360

Millfield could be hard for the LibDems to hold; depends who their candidate is really.

We could be up for 2 gains later tonight (fingers crossed).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The results are in from Keighley West... I'm pretty sure this is accurate...

Lab 1,819 (47.37%)
BNP 1,216 (31.42%)
Con    627 (16.2%)
LDem  208 (5.38%)

Lab maj. 603 (15.95%) over BNP

Labour GAIN from BNP 

[afleitch]

Labour GAIN from BNP 

I'd rejoice even if the Loony Party gained it off the BNP

[Rural Radical]

The results are in from Keighley West... I'm pretty sure this is accurate...

Lab 1,819 (47.37%)
BNP 1,216 (31.42%)
Con    627 (16.2%)
LDem  208 (5.38%)

Lab maj. 603 (15.95%) over BNP

Labour GAIN from BNP 

Good win. How does this effect the balance on Bradford MBC ? I f Bradford is up in May I think we might do well.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Good win. How does this effect the balance on Bradford MBC ?

Labour gains a seat, the BNP loses one. The Tory minority administration will continue though.

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Yep; General Election results were also very good (bearing in mind the demographics of the area) as well. My guess is that Labour could well make enough gains to make themselves the largest party on the council again, and that the Greenies could end up holding the balance of power.
Interestingly the Tory minority administration just got strongly criticised by the Audit Commission over a failed project to hire a private company to run some of the City's public buildings.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Other results:

The LibDems easily held Millfield on a comedy turnout, there was an upset in Surrey as an Indie gained a seat off the Tories (while the Labour candidate polled just 6 votes; that's less than the number of people needed to sign your nomination forms. Note that turnout was 59%...) and the Tories got solid swings in two other wards somewhere in the Southeast.
So not much of interest really; other than the ultimate paper candidate in Surrey o/c.
Keighley West dominated press reports of last night's by-elections; as it should do.

[Peter]

there was an upset in Surrey as an Indie gained a seat off the Tories (while the Labour candidate polled just 6 votes; that's less than the number of people needed to sign your nomination forms. Note that turnout was 59%...) and the Tories got solid swings in two other wards somewhere in the Southeast.
So not much of interest really; other than the ultimate paper candidate in Surrey o/c.

Where in Surrey was this?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Where in Surrey was this?

Ewhurst in the Waverley district. I looked it up on Nomis and it seems to be even more middle class than the rest of the district (23.4% of the workforce are managers).

[Democratic Hawk]

The results are in from Keighley West... I'm pretty sure this is accurate...

Lab 1,819 (47.37%)
BNP 1,216 (31.42%)
Con    627 (16.2%)
LDem  208 (5.38%)

Lab maj. 603 (15.95%) over BNP

Labour GAIN from BNP 

Stellar result

Dave

[afleitch]

Two council by-elections in Scotland today

Borestone - Stirling Council

SNP 374 (38.8%, +16.6)
Lab 335 (34.8%, -16.1)
LD 165 (17.1%, +9.2)
Con 57  (5.9%, - 5.8%)
New Party 18 (1.9%, +1.9)
Ind 14 (1.5%, +1.5)

SNP GAIN from Lab.

Kings Park - Glasgow City Council

LIB GAIN from LAB

100 majority over Labour with SNP a close third.

Change from 2003

LD + 21.9%
SNP +0.3%
Lab -17%
Con - 1.4%

Again, two double figure 'anti-Labour' swings following on from Milton last month and of course Dunfermline

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not suprising; Scottish Labour have had a grim few months for sure.

[afleitch]

Not suprising; Scottish Labour have had a grim few months for sure.

There seems to be some suprising anti-Labour voting benefitting the Lib Dems and the SNP (as they tend to be the only parties in a position to challenge them) and of course Kings Park is a fairly middle class area with a strong public service professional base so this weeks strike may have had an effect.

What this means for next year is hard to guess. A 10% swing against Labour (highly unlikely) would see them loose 14 constituency seats. They will probably remain the largest party, but may not be in a position to form a majority executive, depending on the SNP and the Lib Dems coalition demands. Even if they do McConnells position will be very shaky.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There seems to be some suprising anti-Labour voting benefitting the Lib Dems and the SNP (as they tend to be the only parties in a position to challenge them) and of course Kings Park is a fairly middle class area with a strong public service professional base so this weeks strike may have had an effect.

One interesting electoral fact about Scotland is that since 1987 or so, middle class voters seem to have been much more willing to vote Labour than middle class voters in England or Wales, and Labour's decline with these voters in 2005 seems to have been relatively small (in contrast to England and Wales). Perhaps they're starting to behave more like their English and Welsh counterparts?

Other news; I'm told a weird result is likely "somewhere in the East Midlands". No other details.
And in Swansea, the anti-Labour coalition has lost it's majority with the decision of two Indies to leave it.