Quarter Three Local By-Election Results 2015

Party	Number of Candidates	Total Vote	%	+/- Q2	Average/ contest	+/- Q2	+/- Seats
Conservative	59	26,443	22.1%	-13.6%	448	-1,050	+2
Labour	56	36,884	30.9%	-1.1%	659	-684	-1
LibDem	44	11,498	9.6%	+0.6%	261	-323	+4
UKIP	48	7,578	6.3%	-3.0%	158	-438	-2
Green	39	6,297	5.3%	+0.3%	161	-257	-2
SNP*	13	24,649	20.6%	+17.4%	1,896	-2,170	+1
PC**	5	1,616	1.4%	+0.5%	323	-234	0
TUSC	5	264	0.2%	+0.1%	53	-19	0
Ind***	21	2,333	3.5%	-0.5%	111	-410	-2
Other****	16	1,900	2.0%	+0.6%	119	-316	0

* There were 14 by-elections in Scotland
** There were eight by-elections in Wales
*** There were two independent clashes
*** Others this month were SSP (97 & 117 & 81), Left Unity (32), Scottish Libertarian Party (17 & 12), Health Concern (167), Pirate Party (13), Orkney Manifesto Group (593), North East party (214), Mebyon Kernow (85), Scottish Christian (77 & 33), Llais Gwynedd (123), and Yorkshire First (124 & 115)

Overall, 119,462 votes were cast over 62 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. 12 council seats changed hands. For comparison see Quarter Two's results here.

As numbers recede to normal counts after the general election, the beach has been somewhat remoulded by the new political realities.  The Labour vote, despite the summer of leaderless ding-donging, held up quite well. Perhaps we can start saying a few things about the impact of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership by the time the Quarter Four election results come in. The SNP juggernaut, um, juggers on, though I will note turn out in Scottish by-elections are settling back down to normal levels. Can the SNP's incredible run, which sees them come third here in the popular vote, continue?

Also of interest is the overtaking of UKIP by the LibDems, which is pretty incredible when the press is cluttered up with nonsense about refugees and the EU referendum. For four months on the trot the yellows have trumped the purples. I have no liking for the LibDems but give me them over UKIP any day. Indeed, the Greens' strong performance saw them beat UKIP in one month of the last quarter. Let's hope their demise is not long coming.

Local Council By-Elections September 2015

Party	Number of Candidates	Total Vote	%	+/-  Aug	Average/ contest	+/- Aug	+/- Seats
Conservative	17	9,019	25.2%	+11.0%	531	+153	0
Labour	16	10,740	30.1%	+1.2%	671	-99	+1
LibDem	13	3,098	8.7%	+4.7%	238	+100	0
UKIP	14	2,974	8.3%	+4.4%	212	+92	0
Green	9	2,596	7.2%	+2.2%	288	+130	-1
SNP*	3	5,337	15.0%	-22.8%	1,779	-239	0
PC**	1	509	1.4%	+0.9%	509	+330	0
TUSC	2	62	0.2%	-0.1%	31	-28	0
Ind***	7	923	2.6%	+0.9%	132	+7	0
Other****	5	437	1.2%	-2.1%	87	-66	0

* There were three by-elections in Scotland
** There was one by-election in Wales
*** There was one independent clash
*** Others this month were SSP (97), Left Unity (32), Scottish Libertarian Party (17), Health Concern (167), and Yorkshire First (124)

Overall, 35,695 votes were cast over 17 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. Only one council seat changed hands. For comparison see August's results here.

If last month was an exception, what with the SNP easily cleaning up in the popular vote stakes, September represented a return to normality of sorts. Discounting Scotland - again - things south of the border are starting to look a bit, well, retro. Once again the LibDems have seen off the UKIP challenge despite running fewer candidates. If this carries on (it's four months now) we can perhaps start talking about a trend. The Greens also polled very strongly, though surely that cannot last now a good proportion of their activist base have been tempted away by Jezmania.

Speaking of the Labour Party, there's isn't much evidence our new leader is setting the polls alight. Then again, few things do where by-elections are concerned. But give it time. Already, Labour have half-inched a council seat in Scotland for the first time in ages - though it was the Greens who lost out (the SNP secured the other seat with a whopping lead in that particular two-seat contest). One thing can be said for sure. British politics is in its most agitated state ever, so expect more weirdness in the months ahead.