Five principal authority by-elections took place across England on Thursday 27th August.
Labour were defending two seats (in Wandsworth and Sheffield), Reform UK were defending two seats (in Newcastle and St Helens), and the Conservatives were defending one seat in Dover.
The standout performance of the week for the Liberal Democrats came in Newcastle, where an extraordinary campaign saw us vault from 5th place all the way into a clear 2nd with a massive 24.3 percentage point surge in vote share. Elsewhere, Reform UK gained a seat from Labour in Sheffield while losing another to Labour in St Helens, and the Green Party unseated the Conservatives in Dover.
Newcastle City Council, Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn
In Tyneside, the Liberal Democrats delivered an exceptional result in the Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn ward on Newcastle City Council following a councillor resignation.
This result comes against the backdrop of a historic milestone on Newcastle City Council earlier this May, when the Liberal Democrats became the largest party on the council and formed a minority administration supported by confidence and supply from the Green Party.
Supported by a grant from ALDC’s Fighting Fund, Stephen Kelly and the local campaign team delivered a stunning campaign in what has historically been tough territory for us. We rocketed from 5th place straight into 2nd, boosting our vote share by a massive +24.3% to finish within striking distance of Reform UK, while pushing Labour down into 3rd place. This outstanding momentum sets up a fantastic springboard for the next set of local elections in this division.
A huge thank you and congratulations to Stephen Kelly and the entire campaign team in Newcastle for an inspiring result!
Reform UK: 901 (39.0%, -4.8%)
Lib Dem (Stephen Kelly): 670 (29.0%, +24.3%)
Labour: 534 (23.1%, -5.9%)
Green Party: 103 (4.5%, -9.2%)
Conservative: 101 (4.4%, -4.4%)
Reform UK HOLD
St Helens MBC, Billinge and Seneley Green
Over in Merseyside, Labour was seeking to regain the Billinge and Seneley Green ward on St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting Reform UK councillor – marking yet another instance of a Reform UK representative resigning after only a few months in office.
Labour comfortably reclaimed the seat with a 18.8 point increase in their vote share, benefiting from local frustration over Reform UK’s lack of longevity and community presence. No Liberal Democrat candidate stood in this ward, which saw two Independents, the Greens, and Conservatives compete alongside the top two contenders.
Labour: 1,158 (41.3%, +18.8%)
Reform UK: 892 (31.8%, -2.6%)
Independent: 496 (17.7%, new)
Green Party: 106 (3.8%, -9.2%)
Conservative: 84 (3.3%, -4.5%)
Independent: 60 (2.1%, new)
Labour GAIN from Reform UK
Sheffield City Council, Southey
In South Yorkshire, Labour were defending the Southey ward on Sheffield City Council following a vacancy. Sheffield operates under a committee system with no overall control, where Labour remains the largest group followed by the Liberal Democrats and Greens.
Reform UK gained the seat from Labour with just over half of the total vote. However, Labour’s share did jump up significantly. This is a multi-member ward where elections take place in thirds. The result compares the by-election to the result in the local election this year where Reform UK won the seat. However, this particular seat was lasted contested in 2024 when Labour won it.
Thank you to Oliver George for standing and ensuring a Liberal Democrat choice was available on the ballot paper in a challenging northern ward.
Reform UK: 1,133 (50.6%, +0.6%)
Labour: 836 (37.3%, +12.8%)
Green Party: 146 (6.5%, -6.4%)
Conservative: 69 (3.1%, -1.7%)
Lib Dem (Oliver George): 56 (2.5%, -2.2%)
Reform UK HOLD
Dover DC, Guston, Kingsdown and St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe
Down on the Kent coast, the Conservatives were defending a seat in the Guston, Kingsdown and St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe ward of Dover District Council. Dover has been under Labour control since 2023, though this rural coastal division had historically been solid Conservative territory.
In a highly crowded multi-party contest featuring six candidates, the Green Party gained the seat from the Conservatives, edging out Reform UK by just 34 votes. The Conservative vote share collapsed by 16 percentage points, dropping them into third place behind Reform UK. No Liberal Democrat candidate stood in this election.
Green Party: 767 (28.8%, +2.7%)
Reform UK: 733 (27.5%, new)
Conservative: 456 (17.1%, -16.0%)
Labour: 389 (14.6%, -9.2%)
Restore: 284 (10.7%, new)
Independent: 35 (1.3%, new)
Turnout: 45.0%
Green Party GAIN from Conservative
Wandsworth LBC, Trinity
Finally in South London, Labour defended a seat in the Trinity ward of Wandsworth London Borough Council. Labour gained control of Wandsworth in 2022 after 44 years of Conservative governance. In 2026, the Conservatives took seven seats off Labour, making them the largest party once again, but one seat short of a majority. The Conservatives winning in this competitive battleground seat between Labour and the Conservatives would have had huge consequences in not having to rely on the single Independent councillor to prop up the administration.
However, Labour held the seat with a modest increase in vote share, fending off a Conservative challenge. Wandsworth is a bit of a quirk as one of a couple of areas in London which clings to the traditional two-party, red/blue dominance. As such, all other parties saw their vote squeezed.
Thank you to Dylan Henderson for representing the Liberal Democrats and ensuring local residents had an orange option on their ballot paper.
Labour: 1,558 (47.5%, +8.8%)
Conservative: 1,431 (43.6%, +9.0%)
Green Party: 168 (5.1%, -10.8%)
Lib Dem (Dylan Henderson): 75 (2.3%, -3.0%)
Reform UK: 51 (1.6%, -2.6%)
Labour HOLD
A full summary of these results, and all other principal council by-elections, can be found on the ALDC by-elections page here: https://www.aldc.org/category/by-election-results/
* Joe Nutt is a Campaigns and Communications Officer for ALDC
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10 Comments
“Supported by a grant from ALDC’s Fighting Fund” – Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn Ward.
Is there a criteria for receiving such a grant, and if so, what is it ?
In Sheffield Southey (Brightside constituency) the Lib Dem vote has dropped by half to a mere 2.2% and fifth place.
Is it not a cause for concern that in 2010 Lib Dems came second with 20% in the Brightside constituency ? As someone who joined the Liberal Party back in 1961, been elected five times as a Councillor (through hard work, and been a Group Leader), it’s certainly a cause for concern to me and can’t be glossed over by the current party hierarchy. It should be making the current ‘Middle England’ party Leadership hierarchy take a big deep look at itself rather than glossing it over.
Here is my usual monthly summary of the last fifty local by-elections.
Percentage Vote Share:
Reform 24.46%, Labour 18.81%, Conservatives 17.13%, Liberal Democrats 15.95%, Green 13.44%, Independents 5.35%, Others 4.85%
Labour are now in second place in my tables for the first time since July 2025.
At the end of May I recorded Labour’s vote share as 8.36%.
Gains and losses are:
Lib Dems: Net gain of four: 5 gains, 6 held, 1 lost
Greens: Net gain of one: 3 gains, 1 held, 2 lost
Reform: No change: 7 gains, 4 held, 7 lost
Labour: Net loss of one: 5 gains, 5 held, 6 lost
Conservatives: Net loss of one: 5 gains, 3 held, 6 lost
Independents: Net loss of one: 2 gains, 0 held, 3 lost
Others: Net loss of two: 0 gains, 4 held, 2 lost
This is the first time I have recorded Reform as having no net gains since September 2024 (when their vote share was only 3.23%)
Seats Won:
Reform 11, Liberal Democrats 11, Labour 10, Conservatives 8, Greens 4, Independents 2, Others 4
The above data is for the most recent 50 by-elections in England & Wales (2nd July to 27th August 2026). Parish/Town Councils and Mayoral elections are not included.
For good reason, Town Council byelections normally aren’t included.
But I think the result in Uckfield West is worth noting. Straight fight between the Lib Dem and Reform in an area which had been marginal in the County Council elections.
Lib Dem (Timothy Murray) 524; Reform 203.
(Publicised via Facebook by the Count Binface Appreciation Society)
@David Raw: there are areas where we were stronger in the past and areas where we are stronger now.
Do you seriously believe a single poor local by-election result is a reflection on “Middle England party leadership hieararchy”, particularly, as we’ve just had a very strong result in Newcastle?!
There have always been poor results in some local areas, even back in your heyday: this is true of us and true of ALL parties!
For the first time in two Years Reform are not making Net Gains, of the four Seats where they stood before they lost vote share in three. All that fits with Reforms slow slide in The Polls – in the medium term irrelevance beckons.
Our performance in Newcastle was astonishing, multiplying our vote by six times in less than four months.
As is typical in many of these elections, when there’s a clear contest for first place, Parties further down can be crushed by tactical voting. Us in Sheffield & Reform in Wandsworth are good examples.
@David Raw
Do you think the “middle England” party leadership is concerned at the excellent performance in Newcastle – hardly “middle England”. By your argument, they must think it is bad result.
The truth is that a party that aspires to Government in the UK has to take “middle England” with it. The alternative is the good old days of the 1960s when the number of Liberal MPs just about broke into double figures. More importantly, to defeat the Reform/Conservative party we need as wide an electoral coalition as possible, and that includes conservative-liberals and liberal-conservatives.
VERY well said James and Tristan.
Very well said David. I couldn’t agree more
@ James Flower Ah, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, city of my birth, proves my point. Where you work (as opposed to ‘flying the flag’) you can win, whereas the people you refer to seem to suffer from vertigo if they get further north than York on the train.
Newcastle’s also had a history of local government success, led in recent times by that excellent Liberal historian, Nick Cott.