This week’s principal authority council by-elections started off with a Wednesday contest:

Then Thursday’s contests included three for the City of London Corporation:

There was also a deferred election for Redbridge council, London following the death during the May local elections campaign of Iqbal Singh (Conservative).

Though there was only one Lib Dem candidate for the three member ward, this was one up on last time. So particular thanks to Sufia Khanam for standing.

The last five elections in the ward have now regrettably not had a Lib Dem candidate.

And finally, we have Britain’s answer to New York, New York. It’s Gedling ward on Gedling Council:

Thank you to Maggie Dunkin for standing.

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. See my post The danger in celebrating parish and town council wins for your own party for the reasons to avoid straying too often into covering town, parish or community council by-elections.

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: