There are 7 principal council by-elections held across England, Scotland, and Wales this week; with a combined of 3 Labour, 2 Lib Dem, 1 Conservative, and 1 Green Party defence. Seats changed hands left and right as only 2 out of 7 elections are successfully held by the respective parties. One of which is Lib Dem, who lost the other to Labour; and Labour, who lost their other seats to the Green Party and Reform. Meanwhile, the Tories lost their seat to the independents while gaining one from the Green Party. 

The headline win for the Lib Dems this week come from Stevenage BC, where Cllr Peter Wilkins in the Manor ward held the Lib Dem vote steady (more than majority!) while all other major parties’ vote collapse in the face of a new Reform candidate. Congratulations to Cllr Peter and the team for winning the seat!

Stevenage BC, Manor
Liberal Democrat (Peter Wilkins): 760 (55.6%, +0.1%)
Reform: 320 (23.4%, new)
Conservative: 139 (10.2%, -5.2%)
Labour: 101 (7.4%, -12.3%)
Green Party: 46 (3.4%, -6.0%)

In the other Lib Dem defence of the week. Marthos Christoforou managed to further grow the Lib Dem first preference votes in Kirkintilloch, North & Twechar of East Dunbartonshire Council, but still lost to Labour head-to-head in stage 7 of counting. This would have been an SNP seat if there was only one up for election in 2022: such is the quirk of the Scottish council elections. Well done and thank you to Marthos and the team for putting up a good fight.

East Dunbartonshire Council, Kirkintilloch East, North & Twechar (based on first preference votes, Labour elected at stage 7)
Labour: 958 (30.2%, +1.0%)
SNP: 726 (22.9%, -16.0%)
Liberal Democrat (Marthos Christoforou): 677 (21.3%, +2.6%)
Reform: 476 (15.0%, new)
Conservative: 131 (4.1%, -7.8%)
Green Party: 128 (4.0%, new)
Alba: 63 (2.0, new)
Sovereignty: 18 (0.6%, new)

One by-election held on Tuesday in Pembrokeshire CC also saw a great Lib Dem result, where Kaleb Jenkins managed to snatch over a quarter of the votes in Haverfordwest Prendergast and placing second despite no Lib Dem had stood in the previous election. The independents gained the seat from the Conservatives here. Thank you, Kaleb and the team, for putting the Lib Dems on the map in the ward, that’s how all our campaigns start!

Pembrokeshire CC, Haverfordwest Prendergast
Independent: 199 (31.6%, new)
Liberal Democrat (Kaleb Jenkins): 160 (25.4%, new)
Conservative: 136 (21.6%, -37.0%)
Reform: 71 (11.3%, new)
Labour: 57 (9.0%, -32.3%)
Green Party: 8 (1.1%, new) 

In Warwick DC, the Green Party stormed into first place and won the seat from the Labour, who placed third behind Reform this time around. Thank you to Laurence Byrne for standing in the All Saints & Woodloes ward for the Lib Dems.

Warwick DC, All Saints & Woodloes
Green Party: 719 (34.9%, +22.1%)
Reform: 450 (21.8%, new)
Labour: 399 (19.4%, -24.7%)
Conservative: 383 (18.6%, -15.7%)
Liberal Democrat (Laurence Byrne): 110 (5.3%, -3.5%)

The Tories in New Forest DC similarly did the same in the Bransgore, Burley, Sopley & Ringwood East ward, where they gained the seat from the Greens. Thank you Iestyn Lewis for representing the Lib Dems here.

New Forest DC, Bransgore, Burley, Sopley & Ringwood East
Conservative: 997 (60.0%, +32.5%)
Green Party: 314 (18.9%, -11.9%)
Reform: 257 (15.5%, new)
Liberal Democrat (Iestyn Lewis): 52 (3.1%, new)
Labour: 42 (2.5%, -5.1%)

Finally, the Labour had their only hold of the night in the Burnt Oak ward in Barnet LBC, who lost their outright majority. Thank you to Altan Akbiyik for standing for the Lib Dems here.

Barnet LBC, Burnt Oak
Labour: 1064 (45.0%, -18.2%)
Conservative: 501 (21.2%, -2.7%)
Reform: 434 (18.4%, new)
Green Party: 202 (8.6%, -4.3%)
Liberal Democrat (Altan Akbiyik): 93 (3.9%, new)
Rejoin Party: 68 (2.9%, 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