Quarter One Local By-Election Results 2014

Party	Number of candidates	Total vote	%	+/- Q4	Average/ contest	+/- Q4	+/- Seats
Conservative	43	18,344	28.6%	+8.3%	427	+78	-5
Labour	37	20,005	31.2%	-3.3%	541	-136	0
LibDem	32	6,459	10.1%	-0.9%	202	-45	+3
UKIP	31	8,583	13.4%	+0.5%	277	+20	+1
SNP*	3	2,524	3.9%	-1.9%	841	-186	0
Plaid Cymru**	2	1,169	1.8%	-0.5%	585	+330	0
Green	14	1,495	2.3%	+1.5%	107	+15	0
BNP	0			-0.3%		-70	0
TUSC	3	348	0.5%	+0.0%	116	+72	0
Independent***	15	4,109	6.4%	-0.7%	274	+30	+1
Other****	6	1,048	1.6%	-2.9%	175	+6	0

*There were three by-elections in Scotland.
**There were two by-elections in Wales, two of which were contested by Plaid Cymru.
***There were four independent clashes this quarter.
****There were no 'other' clashes in the same contest.

Overall 64,064 votes were cast over 43 individual local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. Fractions are rounded to one decimal place for percentages, and the nearest whole number for averages. You can compare these with Quarter Four 2013's results here.

After being in the doldrums for a wee while, the Tory vote total picked up this quarter while Labour's declined markedly. It doesn't take an eagle-eye to note this narrowing of the latter's lead mirrors recent polling. Or does it? Average performance has closed between the two parties but a gulf still separates them. Not time for the bubbly yet, Conservative folk. Again the quarter's actual and average votes indicates some stabilisation of the LibDem and UKIP support - their fluctuation is far less than that experienced by the big parties. Then again, the Tories and Labour tend to be more affected by the preponderance of minor parties than British politics' second division.

Down in the equivalent of the Vauxhall League, or whatever it's called these days, the BNP haven't been in by-election action since December. Hardly the vibes one might get from an organisation gearing up for a decent showing in the European elections. They're done and are not likely to come back for quite some time, especially as UKIP have cornered the "are you thinking what we're thinking?" racism of that particular electorate.