Light week of by-elections but full Lib Dem slate

Just the two principal authority council by-elections this week, but a full slate of Liberal Democrat candidates. That is up one on the last time these wards were up.

That newly contested ward was particularly impressive given the long gap back to the last Lib Dem candidate in the ward. More on that below.

Thank you to Rachel Allen for being the Liberal Democrat candidate.

Manjit Lall was the first Lib Dem candidate in this ward since 2009 – thank you!

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.

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: