We've got another busy week of by-elections to cover, with the bulk of them occurring in top-tier Councils. There are 4 County Council, 2 Metropolitan Council and 1 Unitary Authority vacancies to be filled tomorrow, with a couple of District Council by-elections thrown in for good measure.
I'll start in York where the Hull Road ward is vacant following the resignation of Labour Cllr. Roger Pierce due to ill health. Although Labour have won both seats in this multi-member ward for the last two elections, they haven't done so convincingly. In fact, it would take a swing of just 3.6% for Labour to the Conservatives to turn Hull Road blue tomorrow. This makes it all the more odd that the Tories don't seem to be campaigning very hard to gain the seat. Of course, this is just one forum users opinion but it seems that the Liberal Democrats are emerging as Labour's main threat in a ward with a high proportion of student residents. The Lib Dems have selected their 2007 candidate to stand again, and as they currently run the Council as a minority an extra seat would be useful. But as the national story of the week has been the Lib Dems' discomfort over university fees it's going to be tough for them to gain this.
Elsewhere in the York & Humber region there is a by-election taking place for the Leeds City Council (West Yorkshire). The Guiseley & Rawdon ward is electing a new Councillor following the election of the sitting Conservative, Stuart Andrew, as the MP for Pudsey in May. The Tories hold all three seats in the multi-member ward and so they should hang on to this one. The election is important though as Labour are currently just a few seats short of a majority on the Council. Although they currently run Leeds as a minority administration, they are surely eyeing next May's elections to try to gain full control of the Council. To that end, six months incumbency in this seat could come in handy.
Across to the North West now and there is a by-election for the Billinge & Seneley Green ward on the St. Helens Council (Merseyside). This is taking place following the death of Labour Councillor Richard Ward. Labour carried this ward comfortable in May, however when Cllr. Ward won his seat in 2008 his margin of victory was just 43 votes. Labour will not have the advantage of a General Election turnout tomorrow, so a hold is not a foregone conclusion. Labour have been strong in local by-elections since the General Election though so it's likely they'll come out on top tomorrow. They need to as well because this is the first of two seats they are defending in St. Helens. They held 28 of the 48 seats on the Council before the two vacancies, therefore losing both by-elections would half their majority.
In Herefordshire there is an interesting by-election taking place in the St. Nicholas ward. It is taking place following the death of Independent Cllr. David Benjamin in July. Since then there has been the formation of a local party on the Council named It's our County (Herefordshire). They have a group of three Councillors; two were elected as Independents and the other a Liberal Democrat. The sole Green Councillor in Herefordshire has also aligned with the new party. The significance of all this for the St. Nicholas by-election is two-fold. The new party is standing in this by-election and the other Councillor in this multi-member ward is a member of it. As a result they are almost certainly going to be challenging for the support of those who voted for Benjamin at the previous election. All this probably isn't very good news for the Liberal Democrats. They came second in 2007 and must have fancied their chances of gaining this. The Council is currently controlled by the Conservatives so this isn't going to affect the balance of power in Herefordshire.
The final top-tier election in England is taking place for Durham County Council. The Deeside ward is vacant following the death of Labour Councillor Albert Nugent. He comfortably won his seat in 2008 and Labour currently enjoy an equally comfortable majority on Council.
The other two top-tier by-elections this week are in South Wales, with most competitive taking place in Rhondda Cynon Taff. The vacancy for the Treherbert ward arose following the resignation of Plaid Cymru Councillor Leyton Jones due to work commitments. In 2008 Plaid gained both seats in this multi-member ward, although they couldn't prevent Labour securing a comfortable majority on the Council. This will be a straight fight between the Welsh Nationalists and Labour. The second by-election in Wales is for the Neath North ward on the Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. This is taking place following the death of Labour Cllr. 'Mannie' Loaring. Labour won this ward easily in 2008, and successfully defending it in a by-election this May, so they shouldn't have any trouble tomorrow. They currently run the Council, which contains three of the four remaining SDP Councillors in the country.
In the Districts, the Liberal Democrats are defending the Central ward on the Watford Borough Council and St. Pauls on the Winchester City Council. In Watford Labour almost gained the Central ward on the General Election turnout, although the Lib Dems had been fairly comfortable in the previous years. The Winchester seat looks fairly safe.
I'm not back until at least half twelve on Thursday night so tweeting will be a bit delayed. A full round-up won't be posted until Saturday, although I'll try and get a short summary up on Friday morning. Apologies to any regulars; hopefully this will be a one week problem!
Hull Road (York) | Guis. & Rawd. (Leeds) | |||||
Candidate | 2007 | Candidate | 2007 | 2010 | ||
Mick Hoban (LAB) | 33.1% | Paul Wadsworth (CON) | 47.4% | 40.2% | ||
Robin Dickson (CON) | 26% | Mike King (LAB) | 28.7% | 28.2% | ||
Rachel Williams (LD) | 16.7% | Cindy Cleasby (LD) | 12.4% | 23.1% | ||
John Cossham (GRN) | 13.8% | N/C (BNP) | 5.9% | 5.1% | ||
Trevor Brown (BNP) | 10.5% | N/C (GRN) | 5.0% | 3.4% | ||
N/C (ALL 4 GRN SOC) | 0.6% | - | ||||
Billinge & Seneley G (St Helens) | St. Nicholas (Hereford.) | |||||
Candidate | 2008 | 2010 | Candidate | 2007 | ||
Alison Bacon (LAB) | 41.7% | 49.5% | N/C (IND) | 36.3% | ||
Elizabeth Black (CON) | 40.4% | 30.1% | Anthiny Murphy | 21% | ||
Tom Gadsden (LD) | 17.9% | 20.4% | Vivienne Jones | 19.2% | ||
James Winstanley (BNP) | - | - | N/C (GRN) | 14% | ||
N/C (BNP) | 9.5% | |||||
Justin Lavender (IOC) | - | |||||
Colin Mears (IND) | - | |||||
Deneside (Durham) | Treherbert (Rhondda CT) | |||||
Candidate | 2008 | Candidate | 2008 | |||
Jennifer Bell (LAB) | 56.3% | Irene Pearce (PC) | 58.9% | |||
N/C (LD) | 24.6% | Luke Bouchard (LAB) | 41.1% | |||
N/C (IND) | 19.1% | |||||
Margaret Reid (CON) | - | |||||
Neath North (Neath Port Talbot) | ||||||
Candidate | 2008 | 2010 | ||||
Mark Protheroe (LAB) | 62.5% | 46.8% | ||||
N/C (IND) | 37.5% | 15% | ||||
Breandan MacCathail (PC) | - | 15.5% | ||||
David Howells (IG) | - | 12.1% | ||||
N/C (CON) | - | 10.6% | ||||
Mathew McCarthy (LD) | - | - | ||||
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