Last night, 10th November, we had 4 principal council by-elections. From a Liberal Democrat point of view they weren’t the most interesting set of elections. However, we did stand and saw an increase in our vote share in all of them.

Both UKIP and the Greens saw a continued average slide in their vote, with the Lib Dems returning to second place in the two London by-elections. These two seats, one in Wandsworth and one in Greenwich, are interesting because both had split results in 2014.

In Eltham North, Greenwich, Labour had won 2 seats and the Conservatives 1 in 2014. The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all saw their vote share rise at the expense of the Greens and UKIP but the Conservatives managed to grab the seat in a close contest.

In Wandsworth Queenstown the 2014 result was 2 Conservatives and 1 Labour and in the by-election Labour held their seat. Here both the Conservative and Green votes fell will Labour and the Lib Dems were up.

Overall, the London trend of strong Labour performance at the expense of the Greens and a modest Lib Dem recovery is continuing. Outside the capital, Labour are not fairing so well. In North Herts District they held their seat but with a declining vote share, getting under 40% in a seat where they regularly have achieved 60-80% of the vote. A UKIP challenge was replaced by an independent one and Lib Dem vote share more than doubled while the Greens were down.

The final result was in Southwater, Horsham DC. Horsham is a remain area. Southwater was once a Lib Dem held ward but has undergone massive development since the Millennium. We last won in 2003 and it is now a Conservative seat. The Conservatives saw their vote share jump as a strong Independent challenge disappeared and Labour and UKIP declined. Our vote rose but it shows the challenge for us in winning back lost votes in once strong areas.

With thanks to John Swarbrick for the graphs.

Richard Cole

* ALDC is the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners