In Market Harborough, the Conservatives secured a close-fought victory against us. Commiserations to Roger Dunton and the local team for the result here.
Harborough DC, Market Harborough-Logan
Conservative: 410 (31.3%, +4.1)
Liberal Democrats (Roger Dunton): 355 (27.1%, -19.8)
Green Party: 290 (22.2%, +14.5)
Reform UK: 190 (14.5%, new)
Labour: 44 (3.4%, -9.1)
Independent: 10 (0.8%, -4.8)
Communist: 9 (0.7%, new)
Conservative GAIN from Liberal Democrats
In Liverpool, the Green Party successfully defended seat, albeit with a decrease in their vote share. Well done to Tristan Paul and the local team for increasing our vote share by over 15%.
Liverpool City Council, Sefton Park
Green Party: 468 (49.8%, -7.0)
Labour: 211 (22.4%, -11.1)
Liberal Democrats (Tristan Paul): 193 (20.5%, +15.4)
Reform UK: 54 (5.7%, new)
Conservative: 14 (1.5%, -3.0)
Green Party HOLD
In Prestatyn, the Conservatives were able to successfully defend their seat, closely followed by an independent candidate. Thank you to Chris Brown and the local team for flying the Liberal Democrat flag.
Denbighshire CC, Prestatyn Central
Conservative: 230 (21.7%, -1.8)
Independent: 223 (21.1%, new)
Reform UK: 195 (18.4%, new)
Plaid Cymru: 152 (14.4%, new)
Green Party: 144 (13.6%, -35.4)
Labour: 95 (9.0%, -14.5)
Liberal Democrats (Chris Brown): 19 (1.8%, new)
Conservative HOLD
In Basildon, Reform UK secured victory against Labour, with our vote share decreasing by almost 8%. Thank you to Michael Chandler and the local team for flying the Liberal Democrat flag.
Basildon BC, St Martin’s
Reform UK: 1,057 (44.6%, new)
Labour: 833 (35.1%, -3.2)
Conservative: 320 (13.5%., -7.1)
Green Party: 82 (3.5%, -8.9)
Liberal Democrats (Michael Chandler): 39 (1.6%, -7.8)
TUSC: 26 (1.1%, -6.3)
SDP: 13 (0.5%, new)
Reform UK GAIN from Labour
In Neath Port Talbot, Labour successfully defended the seat, albeit with a drastic decrease in their vote share. Thank you to Tomos Roberts-Young and the local team for flying the Liberal Democrat flag.
Neath Port Talbot, Baglan
Labour: 708 (37.5%, -16.8)
Independent: 532 (28.2%, new)
Reform UK: 447 (23.7%, new)
Plaid Cymru: 149 (7.9%, new)
Conservative: 19 (1.0%, -14.1)
Green Party: 18 (1.0%, new)
Liberal Democrats (Tomos Roberts-Young): 13 (0.7%, new)
Labour HOLD
There were four by-elections this week without a Liberal Democrat candidate. Here are the results:
Stafford BC, Eccleshall and Gnosall
Conservative: 1,689 (44.4%, +10.1)
Green Party: 1,037 (27.3%, +8.2)
Reform UK: 938 (24.7%, -10.3)
Labour: 140 (3.7%, -3.9)
Conservative GAIN from Reform UK
Rhondda Cynon Taf, Pontypridd Town
Plaid Cymru: 540 (51.6%, -2.2)
Reform UK: 253 (24.2%, new)
Labour: 203 (19.4%, -16.8)
Conservative: 27 (2.6%, -7.3)
Green Party: 23 (2.2%, new)
Plaid Cymru HOLD
Dartford BC, Maypole & Leyton Cross
Reform UK: 303 (53.7%, new)
Conservative: 158 (28.0%, -40.7)
Labour: 71 (12.6%, -18.7)
Green Party: 31 (5.7%, new)
Reform UK GAIN from Conservative
Dartford BC, Stone House
Reform UK: 475 (45.2%, new)
Labour: 299 (28.4%, -12.8)
Conservative: 190 (18.1%, -31.4)
Green Party: 87 (8.3%, -1.0)
Reform UK GAIN from Conservative
Thank you to all of our candidates, agents, and campaign teams.
A full summary of these results, and all other principal council by-elections, can be found on the ALDC by-elections page here.
* Liam Yip is the Campaigns and Communications Intern at ALDC
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12 Comments
What happened for our voting collapse in Harborough. But 2 cheers for the Liverpool result. Otherwise we were blasted vote wise yesterday.
What on earth is going on – or not going on – in Denbighshire ? Back in the sixties/seventies the Denbigh constituency was regarded as a possible Liberal seat.
There are serious questions to be asked about how much interest the people running the modern Lib Dem Party have outside “middle England”, and how much cut through the present Leadership has outside its comfort zone. Answers please Lord Pack and Sir Edward.
2nd by election loss at Harborough in last 3 months. Worrying.
Reform hammered at Stafford.
Their next defence in Durham but Reform have a massive majority, will they lose this seat as well?
It would be useful to have some feedback when there are significant gains or significant losses.
Good performance in Liverpool but poor in Leicestershire. But our performance in Wales is extremely despairing.
It is highly unusual not to have candidates in Welsh by-elections as the Welsh Party – though not the Leader – had committed to fighting every single one . My guess is that the party’s limited staffing resources were poured into defending Llanidloes (Powys) as a defeat there could have seen us lose control of the council.
David Raw – the old Denbigh constituency bore little resemblance to the modern Denbighshire unitary authority, taking in as it did a swathe of what is now the Conwy and Wrexham council areas.
Anyone who has worked with the old Vale of Clwyd Local Party will understand why the cause of Liberalism is moribund in that part of the world. They didn’t put up any council candidates in 2022 and for a long time the Executive has been dominated by what might, politely, be termed “difficult personalities” – see https://nation.cymru/news/senior-north-wales-lib-dem-expelled-from-party-for-homophobic-conduct/
@David Raw
A big problem with our party is that we grow by allowing local parties to fend for themselves and those who find themselves in favourable circumstances and are lucky enough to have enough members with the dedication and knowhow to grow the party will eventually get support from the national party (or from nearby local parties) when it looks like they’re going to win a parliamentary seat. This means we tend to only grow in areas where we already had a decent amount of support and local representation. Therefore we struggle to recover in most of those places where our local support evaporated during the coalition, and are very unlikely to break new ground in places where we never had much of a support base.
The only exceptions to this are Hull and Sunderland respectively, (but only during local elections) and that’s just because those local parties were lucky enough to have some very effective campaigners already in thier ranks.
At long last and after I raised it turnout figures for by elections are now published by ALDC with the results. This is key information to understand the numbers. It is detailed in ALDC report but not included in the report here. Any chance it can be in future please?
The election in Harborough Council was triggered by the death of a wonderful lady, and long standing councillor, Barbara Johnson, who sadly died at the age of 83. She will be missed by many.
Comparing with the previous result in 2023:
We got 350 votes, down from 800,
Cons got 410 votes, down from 460,
Labour got 44, down from 210
Greens got 290, up from 130
Reform got 190, up from none
Overall,
the Conservatives managed to get their vote out
the Greens clearly worked hard,
Labour did nothing.
We didn’t get our vote out.
For reasons I’m sure the local party and region are looking at it very carefully.
@ David le Grice “A big problem with our party is that we grow by allowing local parties to fend for themselves”.
No we don’t grow by doing nowt, Mr le Grice. Try arguing that line with the weeds in your garden.
@ Lyell Yardarms “the Welsh Party – though not the Leader – had committed to fighting every single one”. ‘Fighting’ : the clue is in the word, Mr Yardarms. Passive non campaigning is not, by definition, fighting….. particularly in a party with a UK Leader making much of the term, ‘local champion’.
How committed do you think the 19 people who actually get out of their armchairs to vote Lib Dem now feel about the party ? It’s inflicting damage to the brand. There really needs to be some sort of quality control on the use of the brand by either ALDC or the party nationally.
What sort of attendances do you think Wrexham FC would get if they lost 10 -0 every week ? I don’t suppose the manager would last long .
David Raw, how enthusiastic do you think those 19 people in Prestatyn would feel if there had been no bird on the ballot paper? As was the case, for example, the last time they were asked to vote for their local councillors.
As usual, you seem to be labouring under a delusion. The choice is not between winning every by-election and winning some of them. It’s between winning some by-elections and simply turning up for others. What is your alternative? A moribund Local Party with no Connect login or access to leaflet templates will suddenly spring into life and snatch a ward from seventh place?