UK local by-elections 2012

[Gary J]

An example of how party politics infiltrated the smaller urban areas in England, is what happened in Slough.

Slough Urban District Council had strong Labour results, in several elections before the First World War. It may be that traditional Independent candidates, contesting polls as individuals, had a problem dealing with even a comparatively weak party organisation. Labour did not have such success again until the post Second World War era, by when the town was much bigger and a Municipal Borough (given Borough status in 1938).

After the War, when local elections resumed, local politicians opposed to Labour reorganised themselves. There was a group, who still contested elections as Independents, but were actually a local political party combining national Conservatives and Liberals in an effective anti-Labour alliance. They had ties to a national federation. The occasional genuine Independent candidate tended to poll very few votes.

It was after the Second World War that first Conservative and then Liberal party candidates began to challenge the Independents, who rapidly declined and disappeared. The last Independent Councillor was elected in 1950, without Conservative opposition. The last Independent Alderman, in the early 1950s, was only reelected for his last term after promising to follow the Conservative party line in the Council chamber.

[Gary J]

The Maidenhead result was very hard fought. I was speaking to the Lib Dem agent yesterday. The perception from within the campaign was that the Tories had thrown everything they had at the electorate. They also had the advantage of people who had moved in to infill development recently, who knew nothing of the ward's political history and just voted Conservative.

Looking at the result the combination of Liberal Democrat strength in the ward, built up with many years work, and the UKIP intervention was what led to a narrow Tory defeat. There seems to be no love lost between Windsor and Maidenhead Conservatives and UKIP, after two Conservative councillors defected.

[Gary J]

A remarkably good day of by-elections for the Lib Dems. This supports the thesis I was putting forward on the "will UKIP beat the Lib Dems in 2015" thread. The local election results support the idea that in some places Lib Dem support has collapsed and in others that they are still competitive. Individual by-elections will turn on local factors but the overall impression is (in my view) compelling and will translate to similarly patchy general election results.

[Gary J]

Not much sign of Labour revival in Spelthorne. At least they managed to stand in the by-election, as they only conested one ward (which they lost) in the last whole Council election.

However UKIP outpolling the Conservatives is surprising. There may be local factors, I am not aware of, but it seems strange that both major national parties are polling so weakly in the same ward.

When I was involved in Spelthorne politics, about thirty years ago, the area was predominantly Conservative, with Labour in a definite second place. It was only after I moved that the Liberals started winning things and now UKIP seems to be developing a stronger than average area.