Eight seats were contested on Thursday, including two notional defences for Labour that they were destined to lose. Both of these seats had been won by the outgoing councillor, having finished second and picking up a seat by way of multi-vacancy elections.
In Scotland, this was achieved by Cllr David Graham, trailing in behind the SNP. Graham was thrown out of office earlier this year when he was convicted and jailed for grooming and sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl. The 43-year-old is now serving a sentence of two years and five months. As expected, the SNP took the seat this time around, with Labour being pushed into third by Reform UK.
You'd be mistaken for thinking that Labour may have stood a better chance of holding in Derbyshire, where they previously trailed behind an independent. Not so. This had been a Tory seat up until 2021, but independents topped the last two polls. We expected this to go either independent or Reform this time around, but it was no contest as the independent candidate romped home with more than twice the Reform vote. Labour crashed into fourth place, behind the Conservatives.
Labour's vote share was down in all of the seats it contested on Thursday, and down by double digits in all but one.
It was another good week for Reform and the Lib Dems. Reform either topped the polls or came second in all the seats it contested, gaining two from independents and one from the Conservatives. The Lib Dems managed to gain two seats, one each from the Conservatives and Greens. The latter could not even muster a candidate to defend their seat, making yet more mockery of the supposed 'Green surge' hyped up by the media. The best the Greens could achieve this week was a third place finish in Nottinghamshire, in which only four candidates stood.
Buckhaven, Methil & Wemyss Villages, Fife Council
(first preference votes)
SNP: 1,594 (42.6%) -4.8%
Ref: 1,080 (28.9%) New
Lab: 778 (20.8) -11.4%
LDm: 99 (2.6%) +0.3%
Alb: 83 (2.2%) +0.9%
Con: 64 (1.7%) -4.8%
Sov: 45 (1.2%) New
SNP GAIN from Lab (elected stage 6)
Fleckney, Harborough District Council
Ref: 551 (35.0%) New
LDm: 453 (28.7%) +2.1%
Con: 416 (26.4%) -6.0%
Grn: 102 (6.5%) -6.2%
Lab: 54 (3.4%) -11.6%
Ref GAIN from Con
Balderton North & Coddington, Newark and Sherwood District Council
Ref: 545 (42.0%) New
Con: 480 (37.0%) +5.0%
Grn: 173 (13.3%) New
Lab: 101 (7.8%) -8.6%
Ref GAIN from Ind
Castle, Newark and Sherwood District Council
Ref: 204 (29.0%) New
Con: 193 (27.4%) -4.0%
Lab: 88 (12.5%) -21.3%
Ind: 74 (10.5%) New
LDm: 70 (9.9%) New
Grn: 61 (8.7%) New
Ind: 14 (2.0%) New
Ref GAIN from Ind
Seales, South Derbyshire District Council
Ind: 713 (55.7%) New
Ref: 309 (24.1%) New
Con: 105 (8.2%) -14.1%
Lab: 82 (6.4%) -20.0%
LDm: 72 (5.6%) New
Ind GAIN from Lab
Westway, Tandridge District Council
LDm: 539 (42.3%) -0.6%
Ref: 420 (33.0%) New
Con: 202 (15.9%) -13.3%
Lab: 112 (8.8%) -19.1%
LDm GAIN from Con
Lingfield, Crowhurst & Tandridge, Tandridge District Council
Ind: 457 (38.0%) +3.2%
Ref: 329 (27.3%) New
Ind: 158 (13.1%) New
Con: 128 (10.6%) -1.3%
LDm: 90 (7.5%) -1.4%
Lab: 42 (3.5%) -13.4%
Ind HOLD
Okehampton South, West Devon Borough Council
LDm: 356 (57.1%) New
Con: 152 (24.4%) -5.9%
Ind: 116 (18.6%) New
LDm GAIN from Grn
A further two by-elections were contested earlier in the week, taking place on the somewhat unorthodox day of Tuesday. These were both Labour defences in Burnley, Lancashire. The party lost both seats to independents and were pushed into distant third places by Reform in both seats.
Queensgate, Burnley Borough Council
Ind: 679 (55.7%) New
Ref: 240 (19.7%) New
Lab: 133 (10.9%) -9.1%
Grn: 71 (5.8%) New
Ind: 52 (4.3%) New
Con: 43 (3.5%) -7.2%
Ind GAIN from Lab
Lanehead, Burnley Borough Council
Ind: 706 (44.4%) New
Ref: 510 (32.1%) New
Lab: 262 (16.5%) -25.9%
Con: 61 (3.8%) -11.6%
Grn: 50 (3.1%) New
Ind GAIN from Lab
Abbreviations
SNP = Scottish National Party
Ref = Reform UK
Lab = Labour
LDm = Liberal Democrat
Alb = Alba
Con = Conservative
Sov = Sovereignty
Grn = Green
Ind = Independents and local residents' groups
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