Near miss for Lib Dems in ward previously not contested by party

Only two principal authority council by-elections on Thursday. Both had Liberal Democrat candidates, which is one up on last time around. The result in that ward which the party fought this time after a no show last time shows the value of expanding the number of wards the party fights:

Congratulations to Theresa Meredith-Hardy and the team for beating both Labour and the Conservatives from a standing start, and commiserations on it not being quite enough to win this time around up against the Mayor of Farnham.

This ward is in South West Surrey, MP one Jeremy Hunt, though under boundary changes it is becoming part of Farnham and Bordon rather than the Godalming and Ash seat the Chancellor will be contesting.

Elsewhere there was a safe Lib Dem hold with a slight increase in the majority:

Congratulations to new councillor Ross Trent and the team.

We also had an unusual Tuesday by-election earlier in the week:

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-election at the town/parish/community council level did catch my eye:

How to make sense of the opinion polls

The results above may tell us what voters are deciding on ballot papers, but not everywhere voted. So what’s the overall picture in the polls? Find out each week with my newsletter, The Week in Polls.

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