Labour enjoy an almost perfect night

Labour had another good night of by-election results as they held onto all four seats they were defending and gained one off Plaid Cymru. However, they were denied a perfect night by the Liberal Democrats who managed to hold their seat in Watford. Elsewhere, the Conservatives successfully held their seat in Leeds and there was a interesting result in Herefordshire.

I'll start with the night's only true gain. Labour had already held a seat on the Rhondda Cynon Taff Council this year, and last night they took one of Plaid Cymru. The Treherbert ward was vacant following the resignation of Plaid Councillor Leyton Jones due to work commitments. Labour already enjoy a comfortable majority on this South Wales Council, and that was added to as Luke Bouchard narrowly won this week's by-election by 28 votes. Labour also held the other seat up for grabs in Wales this week. The Neath North ward on the Neath Port Talbot Council was hosting its second by-election since the full elections in 2008. This time the vacancy was due to the death of Labour Cllr. 'Mannie' Loaring. Mark Protheroe easily held this seat for the reds, and they currently run the Council with a substantial majority.

The most intriguing result of the night came just over the border in Herefordshire, where the death of Independent Cllr. David Benjamin had left an open contest for the St. Nicholas ward. With no obvious successor as an Independent candidate, the Liberal Democrats, who came second here in 2007, would have fancied their chances. But a recently formed local party It's OUR County ended up victorious in their first election. The group was formed in August and had a group of four on the Council, including a joint Green/IOC Councillor. I speculated earlier in the week that this new party may emerge as serious competition for the vacancy as one of their Councillors holds the other seat in this ward. As it happens they easily won the by-election with their candidate, Justin Lavender, secured 45% of the vote.

Thursday night wasn't a complete disaster for the Liberal Democrats as they held on to both of the District seats they were defending. The St. Pauls ward on the Winchester City Council was expected to stay yellow, but the Central ward on the Watford Borough Council was at risk from Labour. The Lib Dems have done fairly well in by-elections since the General Election, despite their relatively poor poll ratings. There vote may have fallen sharply in seats they run paper candidates, but where they are already strong they have held on to their share. However, up until now these by-elections have mostly taken place in rural areas, where the Tories have been their main competition, so this defence in an urban ward against Labour was a significant victory for the Lib Dems. So far it seems the national coalition is not affecting them in the elections which matter.

Elsewhere, the Conservatives held the Guiseley & Rawdon ward on the Leeds City Council. The vacancy arose due to the election of Tory Councillor Stuart Andrew as the MP for Pudsey in May. The seat was slightly at risk from Labour, but Paul Wadsworth comfortably won the by-election for the Conservatives, limiting the swing against his party to just 2% from May.

Labour's other three victories all took place in the North of England. Alison Bacon held Billinge & Seneley Green, St Helens MBC for Labour to shore up their small majority on the Council. In York, Mick Hoban managed an impressive 25% increase to the Labour vote share as he won the by-election for the Hull Road ward. The victory was achieved by taking votes from all four opposition parties. Finally, in the Deneside ward of the Durham CC Jennifer Bell secured 82% of the vote as she held the seat for Labour. Not bad.

Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council																Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
LAB		PC		IND				LD				CON				LAB		PC		IND		LD		SDP		IG
46	+1	19	-1	6		-		3		-		1		-		38	-	11	-	6	-	4	-	3	-	2	-
Candidate					Votes				Vote %				+/-			Candidate						Votes			Vote %
Luke Bouchard (E)					883				50.8%				+9.7			Mark Protheroe (E)						437			57.2%
Irene Pearce					855				49.2%				-9.7			Breandan MacCathail						144			18.8%
																David Howells						132			17.3%
																Mathew McCarthy						51			6.7%

 

Leeds City Council																Herefordshire County Council
LAB		CON		LD			IND					GRN				CON	IND	LD	IOC/	GRN		LAB
48	-	22	-	21		-	6			-		2		-		31	10	9	4	1		2
Candidate					Votes				Vote %				+/-			Candidate			Votes		Vote %
Paul Wadsworth (E)					2075				45.1%				+4.9			Justin Lavender (IOC - E)			589		45.2%
Mike King					1708				37.1%				+8.9			Anthiny Murphy			385		29.5%
Cindy Cleasby					818				17.8%				-5.3			Colin Mears (IND)			173		13.3%
																Vivienne Jones			156		12%

 

St Helens Council													Durham County Council
LAB		LD			CON			VAC					LAB		LD		IND		CON			IG		LIB
27	-	15	-		5	-		1		-			68	-	24	-	11	-	10	-		10	-	3	-
Candidate				Votes			Vote %		+/-				Candidate						Votes				Vote %
Alison Bacon (E)				1288			56.4%		+6.9				Jennifer Bell (E)						917				82.4%
Elizabeth Black				624			27.3%		-2.7				Margaret Reid						196				17.6%
Tom Gadsden				229			10%		-10.4
James Winstanley				141			6.2%		+6.2

 

York City Council
LD		LAB			CON			GRN
20	-	18	-		7	-		2		-
Candidate				Votes			Vote %		+/-
Mick Hoban (E)				860			58.7%		+25.6
Robin Dickson				296			20.2%		-5.8
Rachel Williams				183			12.5%		-4.2
John Cossham				84			5.7%		-8
Trevor Brown				42			2.9%		-7.6