A rare Labour gain from the Conservatives in council by-elections

It’s been a while since a Wednesday council by-election but we had one this week. Or rather, other parties had one as there was no Liberal Democrat candidate:

A rare Wednesday by-election and a rare Labour gain from the Conservatives, only the sixth since last May and still leaving Labour on a net minus two versus the Conservatives in this period (six gains, eight loses).

That result also made it three no shows in a row now for the Lib Dems in this ward, stretching back a decade.

(If you’re wondering about those vote share changes, it is a three member ward and the vacancy was for the lowest placed winner last time.)

In the six contests polling on Thursday, there were only three Liberal Democrats – but the good news is that was up two on the last time these wards were up.

This ward has now been up fifteen times since it was created, and there’s only been a Lib Dem candidate twice, although the most recent of those was last year.

Thank you to Bill Thorkildsen for being the Liberal Democrat candidate, especially as this is the first time there’s been a Lib Dem in this ward since it was first contested in 2013.

Good to see Harrish Bisnauthsing go straight into second place after there was no Lib Dem in this ward last time.

Colin Baldy standing for the Lib Dems means we were on the ballot paper here for the first time since the ward was created for the 2003 elections.

For what all this means for the running total of council by-election results since the last May elections, see my council by-elections scorecard here.

These by-election results round-ups cover principal authority by-elections. See my post The danger in celebrating parish and town council wins for your own party for the reasons to avoid straying too often into covering town, parish or community council by-elections. But this week, this other by-election did come to notice:

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