Liam Yip

ALDC by-election report, 26th February

By | Fri 27th February 2026 - 4:15 pm

This week, there was one principal council by-election down on the South Coast. With national attention staring north at the parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton, it offered a straightforward snapshot of how voters are moving locally.

In Southampton, we were defending the seat and held on in a close finish, staying just ahead of Labour. While the margin tightened, the seat stayed in our hands. The Greens made a clear step forward and Reform UK registered a noticeable first outing, yet neither was enough to shift the overall picture. Congratulations are due to Councillor Chris Shank and the local Liberal Democrat team for ensuring this seat remained ours.

Southampton City Council, Shirley
Liberal Democrats (Chris Shank): 975 (27.3%, –11.9)
Labour: 954 (26.7%, +2.7)
Reform UK: 681 (19.0%, new)
Green Party: 539 (15.1%, +12.0)
Conservative: 288 (8.1%, –13.7)
Independent: 122 (3.4%, new)
TUSC: 16 (0.4%, –0.8)

Liberal Democrats HOLD

Turnout: 35%

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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One Comment

  • Steve Comer 28th Feb '26 - 3:06pm

    WHen you look at the figures you can see that a lot of the Tory vote went to REform and a chunk of the Lib Dem vote to the Green Party.

    A very good result for Southampton Lib Dems.

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