Saturday 25 February 2017

Local Council By-Elections February 2017

Party
Number of Candidates
Total Vote
%
+/- 
Jan
+/- Feb 16
Average/
Contest
+/-
Seats
Conservative
     20
 6,375
  23.5%
 +4.6%
      -5.0%
    319
    -7
Labour
     17
 6,332
  23.3%
  -2.5%
      -7.8%
    372
   +1
LibDem
     16
 7,421
  27.3%
 +4.5%
   +11.3%
    464
   +4
UKIP
     13
 2,532
    9.3%
 +1.5%
      -1.2%
    195
    -1
Green
     13
   965
    3.6%
 +2.6%
      -1.0%
     74
   +1
SNP*
      0
 

  
     0
PC**
      0

   

      
 
     0
Ind***
      3
   493
    1.8%
 +1.8%
      -4.0%
    164
     0
Other****
      4
 3,043
   11.2%
 +10.4%
    +11.2%
    761
   +2


* There were no by-elections in Scotland
** There were no by-elections in Wales
*** There was one Independent clash
**** Others this month consisted of Fylde Ratepayers (564), Bollington First (939), Uttlesford Residents (824 & 716)

Overall, 27,161 votes were cast over 20 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. 13 council seats changed hands in total. For comparison with January's results, see here.

With December and January out of the way, at last the by-election season gets back into the swing of things, and what a scrappy mess February proved to be. The Tories were hammered across the board, and nearly everyone gaining some, and losing some. At the risk of the making them even more insufferable, the LibDems took the popular vote. Yeah, yeah, it won't last forever. Their advance was only stymied by their double loss to the might of Uttlesford Residents' Association. Still, a net gain of four is not something to be sniffed at, mind.  When was the last time Labour performed as well? Nevertheless, February was something of a marker for my party: this is our first net gain since May last year. A small crumb of comfort after the loss of Copeland. Meanwhile, UKIP continues its slide into decrepitude, albeit with a small increase in their vote but an overall loss. Particularly interesting is that it was the Greens who administered them that kicking.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Liz Kendall is a Tory.

Shai Masot said...

Only on September 18, The Graun was describing Stoke Central as “especially unpredictable because of the expected very low turnout”; on September 6, Tory-lite Graun stalwart Polly Toynbee wrote, “No one sensible would call this unpredictable byelection”. What changed? Oh yes – Labour won. Drat! Double drat!

Reading the Guardian today, did you notice how Stoke Central has magically transformed itself into a “rock-solid” Labour seat, instantly depriving Jeremy Corbyn (and Gareth Snell) of any credit for the victory against the Tories and UKIP.

Anonymous said...

She's not (and I say that as somebody still convinced she would have been a more disastrous leader than Corbyn) And the relevance of this to the post is.....?

Anonymous said...

September?????

Lidl_Janus said...

"Liz Kendall is a Tory."

No, you're the poopyhead.