By-elections are slowly ramping up again as we see 9 principal council seats up for grabs this week. It was a SNP wipeout in Scotland as they lost all 4 seats they were defending to the Tories, and failed to gain 1 from a weak Labour. Other than their seat in Scotland, Labour also held another in England and gained one from an unorganised Conservative party. Green party held the only seat they were defending, and Reform won a seat from the Conservatives, the second reform gain in two weeks. The Lib Dems contested 6 of the 9 wards this time around and have made great gains in vote share in most.

In the Mearns ward in Aberdeenshire Council, the Lib Dems finished a strong third, only 77 votes away from SNP in the third stage of counting! The Tories won the seat. Well done and thank you to Isobel Knights and the team for almost quadrupling our vote here.

Aberdeenshire Council, Mearns (first preference results, Conservative elected at stage 4)
Conservative: 1347 (39.2%, +7.5%)
SNP: 832 (24.2%, -4.8%)
Liberal Democrat (Isobel Knights): 745 (21.7%, +15.2%)
Reform: 375 (10.9%, new)
Green Party: 136 (4.0%, +0.6%)

Another strong showing from the Lib Dems can be seen in Aberdeenshire Council in Central Buchan, where we also came third overall. The Conservatives also won this seat from the SNP. Thank you to Ian Bailey and the team for growing the Lib Dem vote.

Aberdeenshire Council, Central Buchan (first preference results, Conservative elected at stage 5)
Conservative: 1260 (41.3%, +8.0%)
SNP: 869 (28.5%, -2.6%)
Liberal Democrat (Ian Bailey): 435 (14.3%, +1.2%)
Reform: 331 (10.9%, new)
Scottish Family Party: 83 (2.7%, +1.3%)
Independent: 71 (2.3%, new)

The final by-election of Aberdeenshire Council this week in Fraserburgh & District saw the same result of a Conservative gain from SNP. Thank you to Sandy Leslie for flying the Scottish Lib Dem flag here.

Aberdeenshire Council, Fraserburgh & District
Conservative: 1145 (36.3%, +3.9%)
SNP: 895 (28.4%, +8.4%)
Reform: 817 (25.9%, new)
Liberal Democrat (Sandy Leslie): 222 (7.0%, +2.2%)
Scottish Family Party: 71 (2.3%, +1.3%)

Also in Scotland, Neil Alexander, the Lib Dem candidate for the Elgin City South ward in Moray Council, ran a good campaign and grew our vote five times over. Thank you to Neil and the local team for building a solid base for future elections in Moray.

Moray Council, Elgin City South (first preference results, Conservative elected in stage 3)
SNP: 849 (33.2%, -3.3%)
Conservative: 834 (31.6%, +4.8%)
Labour: 487 (18.5%, -9.6%)
Liberal Democrat (Neil Alexander): 466 (17.7%, +14.6%)

Down in England, Labour managed to gain a seat in the Bispham ward in Blackpool Council despite losing over a third of their vote because of a split vote between Reform and the Tories. Thank you Kevan Benfold for standing in the ward where no Lib Dem did previously.

Blackpool Council, Bispham
Labour: 436 (31.5%, -16.5%)
Reform: 424 (30.7%, new)
Conservative: 314 (22.7%, -29.2%)
Independent: 148 (10.7%, new)
Green Party: 36 (2.6%, new)
Liberal Democrat (Kevan Benfold): 24 (1.7%, new)

The final ward the Lib Dems contested was Bishops Frome & Cradley in Herefordshire CC, where the Green Party managed to comfortably hold on to their seat. Thank you to Nicki West for representing the Lib Dems here.

Herefordshire CC, Bishops Frome & Cradley
Green Party: 531 (60.1%, -8.9%)
Conservative: 215 (24.3%, -2.9%)
Reform: 99 (11.2%, new)
Liberal Democrat (Nicki West): 27 (3.1%, -0.8%)
Labour: 12 (1.4%, 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