This week saw 6 principal council by-elections held across England and Scotland, with the Conservatives, Labour, and Lib Dems each defending 2. The Lib Dems lost a seat to the Tories while Labour lost both of their Scottish defences to the SNP. The Lib Dems and Tories both held the remaining seats.
The headline win this week belongs to Cllr Bradley Nelson and the team in Mole Valley DC, who won the seat in Holmwoods & Beare Green by a huge margin. Congratulations to Cllr Bradley and the team on the win!
Mole Valley DC, Holmwoods & Beare Green
Liberal Democrat (Bradley Nelson): 748 (46.5%, +1.1%)
Conservative: 437 (27.2%, -2.8%)
Reform: 348 (21.6%, +11.5%)
Green Party: 76 (4.7%, -3.6%)
The other Lib Dem defence this week was held on Wednesday. In the Abbots Langley & Bedmond ward in Three Rivers DC, the Conservative vote doubled, leading us to slip to second place. Thank you to Aidan Betley and the local team for running a hard fought campaign, so close.
Three Rivers DC, Abbots Langley & Bedmond
Conservative: 657 (40.0%, +19.9%)
Liberal Democrat (Aidan Bentley): 552 (33.6%, -24.9%)
Reform: 214 (13.0%, new)
Green Party: 128 (7.8%, +0.3%)
Labour: 91 (5.5%, -8.3%)
The only other election held on Wednesday is a Conservative hold in Harborough DC, Glen ward. We similarly came in second behind the Tories who gathered close to 80% of the vote. Thank you Christopher Graves and the team for representing the Lib Dems here.
Harborough DC, Glen
Conservative: 809 (79.8%, +22.8%)
Liberal Democrat (Christopher Graves): 114 (11.2%, -17.5%)
Labour: 77 (7.6%, new)
Social Democratic Party: 14 (1.4%, new)
The last English by-election this week in North Kesteven DC saw the Tories’ vote plummet, who managed to cling on to the ward by just 22 votes over Reform. Thank you to Stephen Chapman for standing for us in the Bracebrdige Heath ward.
North Kesteven DC, Bracebridge Heath
Conservative: 308 (33.3%, -24.6%)
Reform: 286 (30.9%, new)
Independent: 153 (16.5%, new)
Labour: 99 (10.7%, -31.4%)
Green Party: 43 (4.6%, new)
Liberal Democrat (Stephen Chapman): 36 (3.9%, new)
Finally, both Scottish elections this week are held in Glasgow City Council, one in the North East ward and one in the Southside Central ward. Both Labour seats were gained by the SNP. Thank you to Peter McLaughlin and Nicholas Budgen respectively for flying the Lib Dem flag.
Glasgow City Council, North East (First preference votes, SNP elected at stage 8)
SNP: 689 (34.5%, +2.3%)
Labour: 573 (28.7%, -5.6%)
Reform: 472 (23.6%, +5.3%)
Conservative: 81 (4.1%, -1.3%)
Green Party: 70 (3.5%, -0.7%)
TUSC: 52 (2.6%, -1.1%)
Liberal Democrat (Peter McLaughlin): 37 (1.9%, -0.1%)
UKIP: 24 (1.2%, new)
Glasgow City Council, Southside Central (First preference votes, SNP elected at stage 8)
SNP: 1126 (30.0%, -4.3%)
Labour: 1027 (27.4%, -4.1%)
Green: 805 (21.5%, +3.4%)
Scottish Socialist Party: 271 (7.2%, +5.2%)
Reform UK: 222 (5.9%, new)
Liberal Democrat (Nicholas Budgen): 155 (4.1%, +2.7%)
Conservative: 102 (2.7%, -1.4%)
UKIP: 41 (1.1%, new)
For a full summary of these results, and all other principal council by-elections, please refer to the ALDC by-elections page here.
* Matthew Ma works in the Campaigns and Communications team at ALDC
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6 Comments
We are now only the largest party in Three Rivers Council due to 2 adverse by election results. This was one of our Flagship authorities.
Might Lib-Dems do better (still) at the polls if they had a clear programme for change in direct everyday language?
Disappointing results in Three Rivers and Harborough. I think the general message is a worldwide one of anti incumbency
Before there is too much doom and gloom, the result in Mole Valley is really excellent and the Three Rivers defeat is due to some very difficult local circumstances.
Conservative support appears to be reviving, it will be a slow process but it could have an adverse effect on our final result on May 1st. We should be prepared.
There are differing views as to whether it is worth taking notice of Town/Parish Council elections – certainly I feel that as a Parish councillor a party label is of minimal relevance and I think that if I’d stood under one I probably wouldn’t have got elected.
But there was a by-election for the Toftwood ward of Dereham Town Council, Norfolk, on 20th March.
This was a Labour held seat; the former Labour member had been co-opted.
The result was: Reform UK 532; Labour 403. Turnout 19.84%.
This is striking because Dereham Toftwood is also a two-member ward on Breckland District Council, and in 2023 Labour gained both seats from the Conservatives – who didn’t stand in the Town Council byelection, presumably to give Reform a clear run. Reform appear to have thrown the kitchen sink at it – I have seen a claim that every house in the ward has been canvassed twice.
It’s also mildly amusing. The big issue of the day in that ward is the impending closure of Toftwood Medical Centre. Which would be greatly helped by Reform’s national policy on the Health Service. Not.