Double Lib Dem by-election gains, including from Conservatives in Michael Gove’s seat

Four principal authority council by-elections this week, featuring three Liberal Democrat candidates – which is up one on the last time these seats were up.

First up is a Liberal Democrat gain from independents:

Congratulations to Paula Spenceley and the team! Including…

Quite the demonstration too of the value of standing where we’ve not stood before.

Next up a rare Labour gain from the Conservatives:

And then another spectacular Lib Dem gain from the Conservatives, in Michael Gove‘s constituency no less:

Many congratulations to Liz Noble!

Her win means the Conservatives no longer have a majority on the council.

Elsewhere:

Thank you to Gilbert Yates for standing and making sure the party name was on the ballot paper for all the voters to see.

For what all this means for the running total of council by-election results since the last May elections, see my council by-elections scorecard here.

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. But this did get my attention:

Understanding the opinion polls

For understanding what is happening in politics, by-elections have the advantage of being real votes in real ballot boxes. But the opinion polls have the advantage of trying to be a representative sample of voters, not just those in the places that happen to have by-elections. To understand the polls properly – and what they do and don’t really tell us – see my book, Polling UnPacked: The History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls.

Get by-election results by email

If you sign up for my daily email with the latest pieces from this site, you’ll also get included as a little bonus the full set of council by-election results each week: