At the very end of February, the Conservatives made a gain from the Liberal Democrats, their first since November 2022.
It happened in Horsham’s Southwater North ward, which the Conservatives lost last May, albeit by just over 100 votes.
The 2023 elections saw long-standing councillor and then council leader, Claire Vickers, defeated, as were a large number of her council colleagues.
The Liberal Democrats doubled their numbers then and took majority control, repeating their feat of the late 1990s.
However, the resignation of Cllr Mike Wood provided the opportunity for Vickers to recover her seat, which she did with some ease this time around.
Any hopes the Conservatives could make it a double in Horsham by winning the Henfield by-election were dashed by the Greens.
The vacancy arose following the death of Independent councillor Malcolm Eastwood, who in 2023 finished just 13 votes ahead of the sole Conservative candidate in the two-member ward. Gill Perry, for the Greens, however, missed out on securing the second seat by just 11 votes.
This by-election saw her back again, while the Conservatives selected another councillor defeated last May, but Perry was not to be denied a second time.
The Greens enjoyed further success when safely defending their seat in Lancaster City Council’s Castle ward for the second time, something Labour did once before in the mid-1980s.
Electors in Lancaster are no strangers to by-elections, with no fewer than 66 contests since the early 1980s, more than any other council.
For those interested in such matters, only two other councils have exceeded 60 by-elections. With 62 by-elections, the now abolished Allerdale Borough Council lies in second place with 14 of those contests also filling vacancies on the then Cumbria County Council.
Hackney leads the way in London with 61 by-elections, with Wandsworth, on just 20 contests, recording a third fewer.
Among the metropolitan boroughs, which until recently were all observing the same electoral cycle, the most frequent by-elections were in Manchester (42) and the least (13) in Gateshead.
Of course, these are headline figures and do not make adjustments for a council’s size; for example, while Gateshead has 66 councillors, Manchester has 96.
Returning to this set of by-elections, Labour and the Liberal Democrats each made two gains.
Labour’s gains came in the East Midlands and Wales while those for the Liberal Democrats were both in the South West, a region that has supplied 16 per cent of its by-election gains from the Conservatives over the past three years.
Derbyshire Dales was another of the councils the Conservatives lost in 2023 as councillor numbers halved. The new local administration sees Labour working alongside Liberal Democrats (the largest party) and the Greens.
The vacancy, in Bakewell, arose following Conservative Mark Wakeman’s resignation and the incumbent party were certain to face a tough struggle to retain the seat.
Wakeman had topped the poll previously, over 400 votes ahead of his fellow Conservative, who in turn was just 55 votes ahead of Labour in third place.
Without Wakeman’s strong personal vote, the Conservative defence was unsuccessful but Labour’s winning margin was just 15 votes.
Labour’s second win, Bridgend’s Aberkenfig ward, became almost a formality when Plaid Cymru decided not to contest the vacancy brought about by the resignation, on health grounds, of their sitting councillor, Ellie Richards.
Despite the Bridgend Independents group endorsing the Independent in the two-horse race, it was Labour’s Gary Haines who prevailed and improves his party’s narrow council majority.
The Liberal Democrats enjoyed victories in Wiltshire and Devon.
The 20-point gap between Conservative and Liberal Democrat in the 2021 contest for Wiltshire’s Calne Chilvester and Abberd ward was easily overturned by a 17-point swing in vote shares.
There was little prospect the Conservatives could safely negotiate the by-election for their seat in Mid Devon’s Upper Yeo and Taw ward.
Last May, the ward split its support, electing a Conservative and Liberal Democrat. The defeated Conservative then, Peter Heal, chose to stand again, as did a former Liberal Democrat councillor, Alex White, who emerged a clear winner.
| local by-elections | |
|---|---|
| Bridgend, Aberkenfig LAB GAIN FROM PLAID CYMRU 10.4% over Ind Turnout 27.0% | |
| Buckinghamshire, Farnham Common & Burnham Beeches CON HELD 10.3% over Lib Dem Turnout 23.2% | |
| Buckinghamshire, Hazlemere CON HELD 1.8% over Ind Turnout 25.7% | |
| Carmarthenshire, Elli IND HELD 9.6% over Con Turnout 36.0% | |
| Derbyshire Dales, Bakewell LAB GAIN FROM CON 1.2% over Con Turnout 35.0% | |
| Derbyshire Dales, Norbury CON HELD 48.2% over Lab Turnout 27.0% | |
| East Riding of Yorkshire, Minster and Woodmansey LIB DEM HELD 25.8% over Con Turnout 21.1% | |
| East Riding of Yorkshire, Tranby LIB DEM HELD 31.8% over Lab Turnout 21.6% | |
| Folkestone & Hythe, Romney Marsh CON HELD 3.3% over Green Turnout 26.5% | |
| Great Yarmouth, Central & Northgate LAB HELD 20.3% over Con Turnout 15.5% | |
| Horsham, Henfield GREEN GAIN FROM IND 6.6% over Con Turnout 33.3% | |
| Horsham, Southwater North CON GAIN FROM LIB DEM 18.3% over Lib Dem Turnout 28.8% | |
| Lancaster, Castle GREEN HELD 38.7% over Lab Turnout 15.8% | |
| Mid Devon, Upper Yeo & Taw LIB DEM GAIN FROM CON 23.1% over Con Turnout 24.2% | |
| Milton Keynes, Loughton and Shenley LAB HELD 6.7% over Con Turnout 25.1% | |
| Wiltshire, Calne Chilvester and Abberd LIB DEM GAIN FROM CON 15.0% over Con Turnout 24.0% | |
| Wiltshire, Cricklade and Latton LIB DEM HELD 57.3% over Con Turnout 23.8% |
For more information on these and other recent by-election results, please view the full elections spreadsheet.
