Liberal Democrats gain Vassall from Labour in council by-election

This week’s pair of London by-elections has brought yet more good news for the party, with a gain from Labour in Vassall ward in Lambeth on a huge 11.7% swing.

One person likely to be celebrating in particular is the party’s Chief Executive, Chris Rennard, who now lives in a ward with a Liberal Democrat councillor:

Liberal Democrat 1,209 (50.4%, +14.9)
Labour 859 (35.8%, -8.4)
Conservative 206 (8.6%, – 2.8)
Green 109 (4.5%)
Other 15 (0.6%)

Many congratulations to Steve Bradley and the team.

Meanwhile in Havering, the BNP have retained their seat in Gooshays ward. This is split 1 BNP / 2 Conservative, so the third-place Conservative finish in the by-election is particularly poor. The complex mix of voting patterns means you need the full figures to see what has been going on:

2006 result:
BNP 996
Conservative 952 /916 / 885
Labour 915 / 912 / 814
UKIP 379 / 321
Residents 199 / 162 / 157
Independent 88 / 84 / 78

2008 result:
BNP 865 (38.0%, +1.8)
Labour 741 (32.5%, +6.6)
Conservative 489 (21.5%, -5.5)
UKIP 70 (3.1%, -7.6)
NLP 62 (2.7%)
Liberal Democrat 52 (2.3%)

Also of note is that this is another pair of poor by-election results in London for the Conservatives, making it now seven out of eight by-elections in which their vote share has dropped. The one exception only saw a 2% increase.