Big swing to Lib Dems as Conservatives hold Middlesbrough seat
Only the one council by-election this week: a Conservative seat in north east England.
Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough
Tom Carney stood for the Liberal Democrats, making a welcome return for the party to the ballot papers here after two previous no-shows in 2019 and 2017:
Congratulations on such an impressive swing Tom and team.
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.
That Middlesboro result .The loss of Labour vote and the Tory drop equals the Lib dems and 2 Indies exactly. Therefore is it Tories solid and Labour in meltime? Also it shows that the opposition does split the vote to let Tories in. Arrangements with opposition parties,locally or nationally could be of use. If ALL opposition parties allied with STV an Alliance could be formed.