It's an overwhelmingly Scottish affair this week. with five of the nine by-elections taking place north of the border. Please note that Scotland uses the Single Transferable Vote system, as opposed to the First Past the Post system used in England and Wales.
Scottish Tories will be overjoyed with four gains from the SNP, three of which came in Aberdeenshire. Elsewhere, Labour held in Inverclyde where lots of absentees helped them to a rare increased vote share. Their vote share was down in four other seats and they amassed a grand total of just 12 votes, standing as newcomers in Herefordshire.
While Douglas Ross will be cock-a-hoop in Scotland, Kemi Badenoch will not be so pleased with results in England. There were a couple of intriguing results, both gains that involved newcomers Reform. Labour gained a council seat in Blackpool from the Conservatives, despite seeing their vote share dip by more than 16 points. The Tories themselves were pushed into third place with their share plunging by almost 30 points. Why? Reform stood here for the first time and racked up an impressive total, missing out on a gain of their own by just 13 votes. This is the first seat Labour have gained in England since the general election/
The other seat of interest was also in Lancashire, where Reform again came from nowhere to take a seat from the Conseravatives on Wyre Council. Not a great start for Kemi...
Central Buchan, Aberdeenshire Council
(First preference votes)
Con: 1,260 (41.3%) +8.0%
SNP: 869 (28.5%) -2.6%
LDm: 435 (14.3%) +1.2%
Ref: 332 (10.9%) New
SFP: 83 (2.7%) +1.3%
Ind: 71 (2.3%) New
Con GAIN from SNP (elected stage 5)
Fraserburgh & District, Aberdeenshire Council
(First preference votes)
Con: 1,145 (36.3%) +3.9%
SNP: 895 (28.4%) +8.4%
Ref: 817 (25.9%) New
LDm: 222 (7.0%) +2.2%
SFP: 71 (2.3%) +1.3%
Con GAIN from SNP (elected stage 5)
Mearns, Aberdeenshire Council
(First preference votes)
Con: 1,347 (39.2%) +7.5%
SNP: 832 (24.2%) -4.8%
LDm: 745 (21.7%) +15.2%
Ref: 375 (10.9%) New
Grn: 136 (4.0%) +0.6%
Con GAIN from SNP (elected stage 4)
Great Hollands, Bracknell Forest Borough Council
Lab: 681 (46.1%) -27.8%
Con: 411 (27.8%) +1.7%
Ref: 258 (14.1%) New
Ind: 158 (10.7%) New
Hrt: 20 (1.4%) New
Lab HOLD
Bispham, Blackpool Borough Council
Lab: 436 (31.5%) -16.5%
Ref: 424 (30.7%) New
Con: 314 (22.7%) -29.2%
Ind: 148 (10.7%)New
Grn: 36 (2.6%) New
LDm: 24 (1.7%) New
Lab GAIN from Con
Bishops Frome & Cradley, Herefordshire Council
Grn: 531 (60.1%) -8.9%
Con: 215 (24.3%) -2.9%
Ref: 99 (11.2%) New
LDm: 27 (3.1%) -0.8%
Lab: 12 (1.4%) New
Grn HOLD
Inverclyde West, Inverclyde Council
(First preference votes)
Lab: 932 (34.0%) +7.9%
SNP: 923 (33.7%) +7.1%
Con: 415 (15.2%) +5.7%
Alb: 239 (8.7%) +6.1%
Ref: 230 (8.4%) New
Lab HOLD (stage TBC)
Elgin City South, Moray Council
(First preference votes)
SNP: 849 (33.2%) -3.3%
Con: 834 (31.6%) +4.8%
Lab: 487 (18.5%) -9.6%
LDm: 466 (17.7%) +14.6%
Con GAIN from SNP (elected at stage 4)
Marsh Mill, Wyre Borough Council
Ref: 567 (38.6%) New
Con: 449 (30.6%) -27.2%
Lab: 400 (27.2%) -15.0%
Grn: 52 (3.5%) New
Ref GAIN from Con
Abbreviations
Con = Conservative
SNP = Scottish National Party
LDm = Liberal Democrat
Ref = Reform UK
SFP = Scottish Family Party
Grn = Green
Lab = Labour
Hrt = Heritage
Alb = Alba
Ind = Independents
