Six principal authority by-elections took place across England, Scotland, and Wales on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd September.

The Liberal Democrats were defending two key seats – one on Stroud District Council and another on Oxfordshire County Council. The SNP were defending two seats in Edinburgh, while the Greens defended one seat in Somerset and the Conservatives defended one seat in South Wales.

It was a fantastic week for the Liberal Democrats as we successfully held both of our defended seats with strong performances. We earned a commanding 64% of the vote in Stroud and surged by nearly 9 percentage points in Oxfordshire to protect a crucial single-seat council majority. Elsewhere, the SNP suffered two losses in Edinburgh to the Greens and Labour, while the Greens held off a Lib Dem challenge in Somerset and the Conservatives held in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

England

Oxfordshire CC, Chesterton & Launton

In Oxfordshire, the Liberal Democrats were defending a vital seat in the Chesterton & Launton division of Oxfordshire County Council. Following the 2025 county-wide elections – where the Liberal Democrats made historic gains to win majority control of the council from the Conservatives – keeping this seat was essential to protecting our administration’s majority.

This division was solid Conservative territory prior to our breakthrough, making this first defensive test a key milestone. Cllr Jim Hartley and the local team delivered a resounding result, expanding our vote share by +8.8% to reach 41.7% and comfortably pulling away from the second-placed Conservatives.

Huge congratulations to Cllr Jim Hartley and the Oxfordshire team on a vital and impressive victory!

Lib Dem (Jim Hartley): 985 (41.7%, +8.8%)

Conservative: 683 (29.0%, +0.7%)

Reform UK: 547 (23.2%, -3.5%)

Labour: 75 (3.2%, -2.3%)

Green Party: 71 (3.0%, -3.6%)

Liberal Democrat HOLD

Stroud DC, Kingswood

Over in Gloucestershire, the Liberal Democrats were defending the Kingswood ward on Stroud District Council. Stroud has a unique council composition where the Green Party and Labour form the largest groups, with the Liberal Democrats holding two seats prior to this vote. The Green Party run a minority administration on this district council which is due to be abolished and replaced by a larger unitary authority in March 2028.

Despite the broader council dynamics, local electors delivered a massive vote of confidence in our local representation. Candidate Fred Hulls swept to victory, securing a dominant 64.0% of the vote share and leaving the second-placed Conservatives trailing by more than 48 percentage points.

Congratulations to Cllr Fred Hulls and the campaign team in Stroud on an outstanding hold!

Lib Dem (Fred Hulls): 442 (64.0%, -18.1%)

Conservative: 109 (15.8%, +6.4%)

Reform UK: 70 (10.1%, new)

Green Party: 40 (5.8%, +1.0%)

Labour: 30 (4.3%, +0.5%)

Turnout: 37.3%

Liberal Democrat HOLD

Somerset Council, Frome West

In Somerset, the Green Party was defending Frome West on the unitary council. Drew Gardner ran a hard-fought campaign for the Liberal Democrats, lifting our vote share to 34.6% (+1.2%) and keeping us as the clear main challenger to the Greens, as the gap between us was cut by 8% to just 5.7%. The Conservative vote share dropped into fifth place behind Reform UK and Labour.

A great effort from Drew Gardner and the local campaign team in Somerset!

Green Party: 663 (40.3%, -6.8%)

Lib Dem (Drew Gardner): 544 (34.6%, +1.2%)

Reform UK: 218 (13.9%, new)

Labour: 89 (5.7%, -0.9%)

Conservative: 87 (5.5%, -7.4%)

Green Party HOLD

Scotland

Edinburgh City Council, Portobello / Craigmillar

In the Scottish capital, the SNP was defending a seat in the Portobello / Craigmillar ward under the STV system. On first preferences, the Green Party surged into first place with a 11.8 percentage point gain to capture the seat, while the SNP vote share dropped by over 13 points compared to the 2022 baseline. Thank you to Liss Owen for standing.

Green Party: 1,781 (28.0%, +11.8%)

SNP: 1,531 (24.1%, -13.3%)

Labour: 1,413 (22.2%, -1.7%)

Reform UK: 569 (8.9%, new)

Conservative: 522 (8.2%, -7.1%)

Lib Dem: 365 (5.7%, +1.4%)

Scottish Family Party: 73 (1.1%, new)

Workers Party: 58 (0.9%, new)

Alliance for Democracy: 28 (0.4%, new)

Communist Party: 22 (0.3%, new)

Green GAIN from SNP

Edinburgh City Council, Southside / Newington

In Southside / Newington, Labour gained a seat from the SNP, leading the first-preference count ahead of a rising Green Party vote. The SNP vote share plummeted into third place, down nearly 8 percentage points from 2022.

Thank you to Artie and the Edinburgh team for flying the flag and giving local residents the chance to vote Liberal Democrat!

Labour: 2,153 (32.1%, +8.0%)

Green Party: 1,978 (29.5%, +6.4%)

SNP: 757 (11.3%, -7.9%)

Conservative: 717 (10.7%, -6.9%)

Lib Dem: 543 (8.1%, -8.0%)

Reform UK: 305 (4.5%, new)

Others: 254 (3.7%)

Labour GAIN from SNP

Wales

Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC, Llantwit Fardre

In South Wales, the Conservatives held their seat in Llantwit Fardre with an increased vote share of 57.6%. The Labour vote collapsed by over 24 percentage points compared to the previous council baseline, allowing Plaid Cymru and Reform UK to take second and third place. No Liberal Democrat candidate stood in this division.

Conservative: 1,043 (57.6%, +8.7%)

Plaid Cymru: 329 (18.2%, +1.9%)

Reform UK: 240 (13.3%, new)

Labour: 188 (10.4%, -24.4%)

Independent: 10 (0.6%, new)

Conservative HOLD

A full summary of these results, and all other principal council by-elections, can be found on the ALDC by-elections page here.

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