Political

Lib Dems gain council seat in Cambridgeshire

After a few fairly quite weeks on the council by-elections front, this week brought a bumper set of fourteen contests. Only one Lib Dem defence but also plenty of other opportunities to see if Vince Cable’s promising start in the polls is being reflected in elections.

The news from Ely certainly backed that up with a good swing resulting in a seat gain from the Conservatives:

Congratulations to Christine Whelan and the team on regaining what used to be a Lib Dem ward until both seats were lost to the Conservatives in 2011.

However, this gain was cancelled out by defeat in Colchester in a ward that split 2 Lib Dems – 1 Conservative in 2016:

Elsewhere there were modest signs of Lib Dem candidates running where there previously had been none. Although the vote shares secured were not headline grabbing, the very fact of putting up more candidates is important in itself:

Signs too of vote creeping up elsewhere:

Not candidates everywhere, however:

A vote fall, too, in a contest in the former Lib Dem Parliamentary seat of Lewes (Norman Baker):

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.

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