This week’s council by-elections

For the record, here are the results of this week’s principal authority council by-elections:

Thank you to Barry McKinstray for standing.

Thank you to Jane Parsons for standing, especially as there was no Lib Dem the two previous times this ward has been up.

The last time there was a Lib Dem candidate in this ward was back in 2011.

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 as it’s only those for which comprehensive results are available. But this week, congratulations are due to Mo Rattab for holding a parish council seat on Abbots Langley Parish Council.

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: