Our report on last week’s by-elections is a little late again. This is because there were an unusually high number of by-elections last week. There were 24 principal authority by-elections or countermanded election, across 23 wards, with several again counting on the Friday.
It was a mixed set of results for the Liberal Democrats. In many places we didn’t get the result our local teams deserved for all their hard work, but we still registered some strong results in seats that are up for election again next year, and we also achieved one excellent hold which is where we start:
Teignbridge DC, Dawlish South West
Lib Dem (Pat Hackett): 692 (45.3%, +6.6%)
Reform UK: 451 (29.5%, new)
Green Party: 230 (15.1%, +3.8%)
Conservative: 154 (10.1%, -12.8%)
Lib Dem HOLD
Congratulations to Councillor Pat Hackett on a resounding result in Teignbridge – increasing our vote share by 6.6%, holding off Reform UK who were contesting the seat for the first time, and retaining the ward for the Lib Dems.
Highland Council, East Sutherland and Edderton
Independent: 1044 (40.2%, new)
Lib Dem (Eric De Venny): 854 (32.9%, -2.9%)
SNP: 452 (17.4%, -9.1%)
Reform UK: 188 (7.2%, new)
Conservative: 59 (2.3%, -14.7%)
Independent GAIN from Independent
There were two by elections in Scotland this week. On Highland Council, Lib Dem candidate Eric De Venny secured a strong second place finish, fewer than 200 first-preference votes away from the winning independent candidate. With the seat up for election next year it leaves us in a very strong position.
Aberdeen Council, George St / Harbour
SNP: 583 (33.1%, -9.1%)
Labour: 255 (14.5%, -5.3%)
Green Party: 232 (13.2%, -0.7%)
Reform UK: 177 (10.1%, new)
Independent: 162 (9.2%, new)
Lib Dem (Luke Eveling): 162 (9.2%, -2.2%)
Conservative: 146 (8.3%, -2.7%)
TUSC: 31 (1.8%, new)
All: 13 (0.7%, new)
SNP GAIN from Liberal Democrat
On Aberdeen Council we had a very tough defence in George St / Harbour ward. Thank you to Luke Eveling for fighting the seat from us. In a very crowded field, the SNP gained the seat.
Hertsmere Council, Bushey Park
Conservative: 947 (42.9%, +3.4%)
Lib Dem (Annabel Hennessy) : 726 (32.9%, -19.5%)
Reform UK: 422 (19.1%, new)
Green Party: 61 (2.8%, new)
Labour: 50 (2.3%, -5.8%)
Conservative GAIN from Liberal Democrat
We were also defending a seat on Hertsmere Council. Thank you to Annabel Hennessy for being our candidate here. It was clearly a hard-fought election and it was very unlucky to just lose out to the Conservatives.
Uttlesford DC, Stort Valley
Conservative: 255 (46.4%, +18.7%)
Lib Dem (Paul Bamlett): 175 (31.9%, -25.8%)
Reform UK: 119 (21.7%,+16%)
Conservative GAIN from Liberal Democrat
Staying in the East of England, we also had a defence on Uttlesford District Council in Stort Valley ward. It was agonisingly close, but we just missed out to the Conservatives by 80 votes. Thank you to Paul Bamlett for your hard work as our candidate.
Ealing LBC, North Acton
Green Party: 804 (30.2%, +1.4%)
Labour: 642 (24.1%, -4.6%)
Lib Dem (Abdi Ahmed): 523 (19.6%,+8.3%)
Reform UK: 309 (11.6%, -0.1%)
Conservative: 257 (9.6%, -3.5%)
ECI: 129 (4.8%, new)
Green HOLD
There were a number of by-elections in London this week. One of our best results of the week came in Ealing LBC, where our candidate Abdi Ahmed finished a very strong third place, increasing our vote share by over 8%. Congratulations to Abdi and the team on such a positive performance.
Hackney LBC, Dalston
Green Party: 549 (57.7%, -2.6%)
Labour: 342 (36%, +6.9%)
Reform UK: 26 (2.7%, -0.1%)
Lib Dem (Peter Munro): 24 (2.5%, -2%)
Conservative: 10 (1.1%, -2.3%)
Green HOLD
Hackney LBC, Hackney Central
Green Party: 676 (45.3%, -1.6%)
Labour: 624 (41.9%, +12.4%)
Lib Dem (Ken Gabbott-Rolph): 83 (5.6%, -1.6%)
Reform UK: 59 (4%, -0.7%)
Conservative: 49 (3.3%, -1.3%)
Green HOLD
There were two by-elections on Hackney Council last week. Both were held by the Green Party, but thank you to Peter Munro and Ken Gabbott-Rolph for flying the flag for the Lib Dems in these elections.
Haringey LBC, Woodside
Green Party: 1033 (43.3%, +6.1%)
Labour: 978 (41%, +2.7%)
Reform UK: 171 (7.2%, +0.1%)
Conservative: 110 (4.6%, -2.4%)
Lib Dem (Rakeebah Rahim): 93 ( 3.9%, -6.5%)
Green Party GAIN from Labour
Haringey LBC, Northumberland Park
Labour: 877 (44.3%, +12.4%)
Green Party: 839 (42.4%, -13.1%)
Reform UK: 106 (5.4%, -0.6%)
Conservative: 98 (4.9%, -2%)
Lib Dem (David Schmitz): 60 (3%, -1.7%)
Labour GAIN from Green Party
There were also two by-elections on Haringey Council last week. Thank you to Rakeebah Rahim and David Schmitz for making sure there was a Lib Dem option on the ballot paper here.
Cambridgeshire CC, Roman Bank and Peckside
Reform UK: 1009 (39%, -5.6%)
Conservative: 983 (38%, +8.7%)
Lib Dem (Diane Cutler): 414 (16%, -3.1%)
Labour: 105 (4.1%, +0.2%)
Green Party: 76 (2.9%, -0.2%)
Reform UK HOLD
We had another third place finish in Cambridgeshire, comfortably beating Labour and the Green Party on Roman Bank and Peckside ward. Reform UK held the seat, but well done to Diane Cutler for providing the progressive option in this election.
Brighton and Hove Council, Goldsmid
Green Party: 2037 (49%, +22.4%)
Labour: 1357 (32.7%, -14.6%)
Reform UK: 304 (7.3%, new)
Lib Dem (Kim Leyland-Walker): 214 (5.2%, -1.7%)
Conservative: 210 (5.1%, -4.6%)
TUSC: 31 (0.7%, new)
In Brighton and Hove, the Green Party gained Goldsmid ward from Labour. Thank you for Kim Leyland-Walker for flying the Lib Dem flag here.
Carmarthenshire Council, Llangennech
Plaid Cymru: 483 (41.1%, +11%)
Labour: 338 (28.9%, +5.3%)
Reform UK: 283 (24.2%, -18.9%)
Conservative: 38 (3.3%, +2.4%)
Independent: 11 (0.9%, new)
Green Party: 8 (0.7%, new)
Lib Dem (Justin Griffiths): 7 ( 0.6%, -1%)
There were a number of by-elections in Wales. In Carmarthenshire, thank you to Justin Griffiths for standing for the Lib Dems here. In a crowded field, Plaid Cymru gained the seat from Labour.
Denbighshire, Rhyl South
Reform UK: 297 (39%, new)
Conservative: 167 (22%, -27.4%)
Plaid Cymru: 160 (21%, new)
Labour: 131 (17%, -43%)
Lib Dem (Keith Kirwan): 10 (1%, new)
Green Party: 5 (1%, new)
We’d also like to thank Keith Kirwan for being our candidate in Rhyl South in Denbighshire, a seat Reform UK gained from Labour.
Thank you to all the Lib Dem candidates from last week – as well all our agents, volunteers and campaign teams.
There were also a number of elections without Lib Dem candidates in Staffordshire, Merthyr Tidfil, Denbighshire, Rhodda Cynon Taf, St Helens (x3), Halton, Tamworth and Nuneaton & Bedworth
A full summary of these results, and all other principal council by-elections, can be found on the ALDC by-elections page here.
* Charles Quinn is Campaigns Organiser for ALDC and a local councillor in Hull.
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6 Comments
Excellent result for Martin Wrigley and the team he supports and who have supported him so well. They were never going to let Reform win and they totally deserve their success.
I’m afraid the comments around some of our performances are a little too ‘rose-tinted’. For example, it was not ‘unlucky’ to lose Bushey Park by 10% when our vote share dropped by 20%. Similarly, to say we ‘just missed out’ when we lost Stort Valley by 15% when our vote share fell by 25% is not an accurate summary of the result.
On the positive side, I agree that our candidate in North Acton had a real impressive result, managing to increase vote share in the face of a competitive race between Labour and the Greens.
Congratulations to Abdi, Humaira, Jon, Nathan and all the Team in North Acton/Ealing. What a fantastic swing, the reward for a friendly, inclusive and super-organised campaign with sterling support from the London MPs.
This seems to follow the pattern in the local elections where we did well in libdem constituencies but took a net loss everywhere else.
Teignbridge for instance has the sorts of demographics that have been moving heavily to reform, but we held on there whilst losing by a landslide in a well educated remain voting ward in commuter belt hertsmere. The problem is that our local reputation is the only reason compelling reason we are giving for people to vote us; that works where our we have a very high profile locally, but is increasingly getting drowned out everywhere else.
George Street/Harbour was a very tough defence because we held the last seat in a multi member STV ward there last time.
I was on the phones on polling day and it was fairly clear the support wasn’t forthcoming.
I’d think the Aberdeen loss could be blamed on our failure to fight the Aberdeen south by election, a seat that we used to represent in the Scottish parliament, and has achieved 3rd place as recently as 2019 (a position the Tories were able to win the by election from).
If we could’ve just gotten more votes than Labour then we could’ve potentially won the ward on transfers.
On the current result it looks like we won’t even regain the seat under STV at next year’s locals.