Local Council By-Elections October 2014

Party	Number of candidates	Total vote	%	+/-  Sept	Average/ contest	+/-  Sept	+/- Seats
Conservative	33	14,849	27.0%	+0.9%	450	+119	0
Labour	29	12,770	23.2%	-4.9%	440	+58	+1
LibDem	20	6,896	12.5%	-9.4%	344	-34	+2
UKIP	28	10,439	19.0%	+5.3%	373	+173	0
SNP*	2	3,111	5.7%	+5.7%	1,555	+1,555	+1
Plaid Cymru**	0						0
Green	14	1,348	2.5%	-1.3%	96	+6	0
BNP	1	17	0.0%	+0.0%	17	+17	0
TUSC	1	35	0.0%	-0.3%	35	+5	0
Independent***	14	4,464	8.1%	+2.4%	319	+164	-2
Other****	5	1,020	1.9%	+1.5%	204	+166	-2

* There were two by-elections in Scotland.
** There were two by-elections in Wales.
*** There was one independent clash with four candidates contesting the one seat.
**** Others in this month;s contests were Justice (10), OMRLP (27) EngDem (5), Derwentside Ind (655), Canvey Island Ind (323)

Overall, 54,949 votes were cast over 33 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. For comparison see September's results here.

Well, the LibDem renaissance didn't last. Though to be fair, October has been all about UKIP again. Its  issues are no longer just tugging the Tories away from the electoral ground they need to occupy to win next year, they're dominating the media in ways a challenger party never had done. For example, had UKIP won yesterday's PCC by-election in South Yorkshire, it would be all over the news, no? But they didn't so it hardly figures.

There's more to these very good results for the kippers than just wall-to-wall Farage on my telly box. It helps explain the relatively poor showing for Labour too. 13 of the seats up for grabs were and remained Tory seats while only seven were the preserve of the red team. Yes, it's our old friend regional variation. However, even when this has occurred in the past Labour have managed to win out on averages, which they haven't done this time. Plus this is in the context of a very good showing from UKIP and more modest performances from the Greens and LibDems. Is Labour's dip in support here reflective of the sliding share regularly reported by the polling companies? We shall have to see.

Lastly, this month has been very busy in terms of seats won and lost. The table only accounts for four net gains and losses, but actually some 11 changed hands.