This week there have been eleven council by-elections across the UK and the first of three parliamentary by-elections taking place over the next few weeks. The contest in Old Bexley and Sidcup was to replace the late Conservative MP James Brokenshire. There was no major upset here and the Tories held the seat, as expected. Turnout was 33.5 per cent, more than half that of the 2019 general election. As we predicted, Tory voters largely stayed at home and Labour slashed the Tory majority as a result - from 18,952 to just 4,478.
Reform UK leader Richard Tice finished an impressive third and was the only other candidate to save his deposit. The Lib Dems and other Remain parties such as Rejoin EU finished well behind the leading pack.
Old Bexley & Sidcup
Louie French (Con) 11,189 (51.5%) -13.0%
Daniel Francis (Lab) 6,711 (30.9%) +7.4%
Richard Tice (RefUK) 1,432 (6.6%) New
Jonathan Rooks (Grn) 830 (3.8%) +0.6%
Simone Reynolds (LDem) 647 (3.0%) -5.3%
Elaine Cheeseman (EDem) 271 (1.2%) New
John Poynton (UKIP) 184 (0.8%) New
Richard Hewison (Rejoin) 151 (0.7%) New
David Kurten (Herit) 116 (0.5%) New
Carol Valinejad (CPA) 108 (0.5%) N/c
Mad Mike Young (Loon) 94 (0.4%) New
Con HOLD
In Thursday's local government elections it was a fairly bad night for the Tories, who only held two of the seven seats they were defending. The Conservative vote share was down in all but three of the eleven contests and they lost two seats to the Lib Dems in Lancaster, a seat to the Greens in Wealden and a seat to Labour in Worthing. The situation in the Highland by-election is more complicated (as it usually is due to Scotland's electoral system). The seat was technically a Conservative defence, but the incumbent - who died - had been elected as an independent. The SNP romped home anyway.
There was an inexplicable gain for the Tories in Norfolk, where they bucked the national trend to overtake the Lib Dems.
Labour maintained a routine hold in South Wales and an independent held a seat in Warwick.
UKIP were absent from Warwick and Worthing this time, while the Greens did not put up a candidate in Newport or North Norfolk that they had previously.
Hillside, Adur District Council
Con: 414 (56.2%) -6.3%
Grn: 175 (23.7%) +17.1%
Lab: 148 (20.1%) -7.7%
Con HOLD
Hermitage, Breckland District Council
Con: 243 (45.0%) -26.3%
LDem: 221 (40.9%) New
Lab: 66 (12.2%) -16.5%
WPB: 10 (1.9%) New
Con HOLD
Fort William & Ardnamurchan, Highland Council
(First preference votes)
SNP: 905 (39.6%) +6.7%
Con: 485 (21.2%) +8.5%
Grn: 328 (14.3%) New
LDem: 231 (10.1%) +5.5%
Ind: 194 (8.5%) New
Ind: 88 (3.8%) -0.4%
Ind: 56 (2.4%) New
SNP GAIN from Con (elected after stage 6)
Bare, Lancaster City Council
LDem: 428 (33.3%) +21.2%
Grn: 301 (23.4%) New
Ind: 243 (18.9%) -16.5%
Con: 205 (16.0%) -14.9%
Lab: 107 (8.3%) -9.1%
LDem GAIN from Con
Upper Lune Valley, Lancaster City Council
LDem: 390 (63.1%) +19.1%
Con: 183 (29.6%) -16.3%
Grn: 24 (3.9%) New
Lab: 21 (3.4%) -6.7%
LDem GAIN from Con
Victoria, Newport City Council
Lab: 641 (64.6%) +6.7%
LDem: 258 (26.0%) +5.6%
Con: 93 (9.4%) -3.8%
Lab HOLD
Stalham, North Norfolk District Council
Con: 559 (55.2%) +25.9%
LDem: 375 (37.0%) -11.1%
Lab: 79 (7.8%) -0.2%
Con GAIN from LDem
Whitnash, Warwick District Council
Ind: 835 (55.2%) +5.7%
Lab: 431 (28.5%) +6.5%
Con: 127 (8.4%) +1.8%
Grn: 88 (5.8%) -4.7%
LDem: 32 (2.1%) -2.9%
Ind HOLD
Hartfield, Wealden District Council
Grn: 598 (55.8%) +12.7%
Con: 467 (44.2%) -12.7%
Grn GAIN from Con
Marine, Worthing Borough Council
Lab: 1,239 (50.2%) +17.6%
Con: 972 (39.4%) -1.6%
Grn: 145 (5.9%) -3.7%
LDem: 112 (4.5%) -3.8%
Lab GAIN from Con
A council by-election also took place on Tuesday, triggered by the resignation of a councillor from the Wyre Forest independent group Health Concern. The group did not contest the by-election, allowing the Tories an easy gain. UKIP and the Greens were also absent this time.
Franche & Habberley North, Wyre Forest District Council
Con: 564 (40.9%) -5.1%
Lab: 372 (27.0%) +2.9%
LDem: 245 (17.8%) +14.7%
Ind: 198 (14.4%) New
Con GAIN from Ind
Abbreviations
Con = Conservative
Lab = Labour
RefUK = Reform UK
Grn = Green
LDem = Liberal Democrat
EDem = English Democrats
UKIP = UK Independence Party
Rejoin = Rejoin EU
Herit = Heritage
CPA = Christian Peoples Alliance
Loon = Monster Raving Loony
WPB = Workers Party of Britain
SNP = Scottish National Party
Ind = Independents
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