21% swing from Labour to Lib Dem in Lincolnshire

Six principal authority council by-elections this week, with a full slate of Lib Dem candidates – a particularly impressive achievement given that last time these seats were up, only half had a Liberal Democrat standing.

Congratulations to James Brown and the team on such an impressive Lib Dem result – and so close to winning.

Thanks to Rowan Power for being the Liberal Democrat candidate in both these contests.

Kayleigh Halpin was the Lib Dem putting the party on the ballot paper in this ward for the first time – thank you.

Thank you to Olumide Adeyefa for being the Liberal Democrat candidate and putting the party on the ballot paper for the first time in this ward.

Thank you to Edward Currie for getting the Lib Dems on the ballot paper here.

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: