COUNCIL BY ELECTION REVIEW JANUARY TO MARCH

 I would like to thank Middleenglander for allowing me to redistribute their information on my blog. If like me you love your political stats, then you might find this a very interesting recap of the council by elections which have taken place so far this year. 

Up until the end of March the net gains stood as.

Lib Dems 4
Labour 2
UKIP 2
Independents -1
SNP -2
Conservatives -7

There were 37 by-elections during January, February and March 2013 with 14 (38%) changing hands.

Party	Candidates	Defended	Retained	Gained	Lost	Won
Conservatives	36	13	5	1	8	6
Labour	33	16	14	4	2	18
Lib Dems	28	4	3	5	1	8
SNP	3	2			2
Plaid Cymru	1
BNP	6
Greens	15
UKIP	24			2		2
Resident Groups *	5
English Democrats	3
Socialist Party (GB)	2
TUSAC	4
Lewisham PBP	1
Independents **	15	2	1	2	1	3
No Description	1
Total	177	37	23	14	14	37

*    5 Resident groups contesting 4 seats

** 15 candidates contesting 11 seats.

Conservatives:
- gained Wirral MB, Leasowe & Moreton East from Labour on 17th January
- lost Dudley MB, Wollaston & Stourbridge Town to Labour on 31st January
- lost South Staffordshire DC, Perton East to an Independent on 14th February
- lost North Norfolk DC, Cromer Town to Lib Dems on 21st February
- lost Wirral MB, Pensby & Thingwall to Labour on 28th February
- lost Arun DC, Aldwick East to the Lib Dems on 14th March
- lost Runnymede BC, Foxhills to UKIP on 14th March
- lost Havering LB, Gooshays to UKIP on 21st March
- lost North Dorset DC, Lodbourne to Lib Dems on 21st March

Labour- in addition to the 2 gains and 1 loss to the Conservatives
- gained South Lanarkshire UA, Rutherglen South from SNP on 14th February
- lost Dacorum BC, Adeyfield West to the Lib Dems on 21st March
- gained Islington LB, Junction from Lib Dems on 21st March



UKIP gained Havering LB, Gooshays from the Conservatives on an 18% swing since 2010
- "split" ward electing 2 Conservatives and 1 Labour in 2010, 2 Conservatives and 1 BNP in 2006 but 3 Labour in 2002 whilst BNP won a 2008 by-election
UKIP gained Runnymede BC, Foxhills from the Conservatives on a 13% swing since 2012 and nearly 20% swing since 2011
- Conservatives had won the all recent ward elections with a large majority although UKIP had come second in both 2011 and 2012

Lib Dems
- in addition to the 3 gains from the Conservatives, 1 gain from Labour and 1 loss to Labour
- gained Chelmsford BC, Broomfield & The Walthams from an Independent on 19th February

SNP
- in addition to the 1 loss to Labour
- lost Moray UA, Heldon & Laich on 7th March

Independents
- 1 gain from the Conservatives, 1 gain from SNP and 1 loss to the Lib Dems