25% swing in Salisbury as Lib Dems gain seat from Conservatives
Lots of seats changing hands in this week’s council by-elections so let’s get straight to the results.
That’s a 25% swing for new Lib Dem councillor Sam Charleston. There was also a parish council gain at the same time, on which see below.
Congratulations to new councillor Natalie Warren-Green and commiserations to Lawrence Zeegen who just missed out.
Thank you to George Holland for being the Liberal Democrat candidate, standing in a ward where we didn’t stand last time around.
Thank you to Les Tarr for standing in what was a very unusual by-election, caused after a Lib Dem was unexpectedly elected in May following the failure of other parties to put up enough candidates.
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, this by-elections at the town/parish/community council level did catch my eye:
As well as the Wiltshire Council gain, there was also a Lib Dem gain for Salisbury City (parish) Council:
Congratulations to new councillor, Lynne Blackwood.
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:
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