Lib Dems miss out on council seat gains by just 4 and 23 votes

Six principal authority council by-elections this week, with a full slate of Lib Dem candidates too. That’s up one on the last time these seats were up.

An impressive and oh so close result for Lib Dem candidate Sandra Jervis as the party last stood in the ward in 2012, finishing fourth. Just 23 votes off winning.

Another very near miss for the party in Mendip Council, in a ward that has always been Conservative since the last boundary changes:

Congratulations and commiserations Claire and the team.

Congratulations to new councillor Hugh Parker, who defeated the spouse of the local Conservative MP.

Good to see Lib Dem candidate Shaukat Khan move up from fourth place for the party last time to second place this time, overtaking the Conservatives. I guess having their conference in town didn’t help.

Thank you to Richard Stilwell for being the Lib Dem candidate.

Congratulations to Pete Brown and the Lib Dem team on moving up to second place, over-taking the Conservatives.

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.

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.

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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: