Disengaged voters
The final by-elections of 2024 only served to emphasise what we have been pointing out for months – that the electorate appears both volatile and disengaged.
Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher
Electoral lottery
Labour has lost a net 22 council seats in by-elections since July, with its average vote share in all such contests falling by more than 10 percentage points.
Low turnout ‘troubling’
Thirteen by-elections followed the resignation of Labour councillors after being voted into Parliament, with a net loss of nine seats.
Voter volatility
Following a general election, especially one as dramatic as 4 July’s, council by-elections can provide evidence about voters in the new political environment.
A fragmented vote distribution
Many councillors took the opportunity of the snap general election to resign their seats, minimising the costs to local authorities of conducting by-elections.
Horses for courses
The 2 May local elections saw the Conservatives hit their lowest number of councillors and councils controlled for a quarter of a century.
A sparsity of results
There is usually a sparsity of local by-elections in the weeks before the annual May contests, and 2024 is no exception.
Local elections 2024 preview
On 2 May, 107 councils across England go to the polls, with more than 2,600 seats at stake.
Lancaster tops by-elections table
At the very end of February, the Conservatives made a gain from the Liberal Democrats, their first since November 2022.