Review of council by elections since May

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There were 122 by-elections for 123 seats during the 6 months June to November 2014 with 44 (36%) changing hand or 42 (34%) excluding 2 Lincolnshire Independent (classed as a Resident Group) gains from Independent.   The results can be summarised by:

Party	Candidates	Defended	Retained	Gained	Lost	Won	retention rate
Conservatives	122	43	30	10	13	40	70%
Labour	108	40	34	8	6	42	85%
Liberal Democrats	73	13	7	8	6	15	54%
SNP	6	3	1	2	2	3	33%
Plaid Cymru	2
UKIP	98	5	1	7	4	8	20%
Green	57	2	1	1	1	2	50%
Resident Groups *	7	2		3	2	3	0%
Independents **	55	14	5	5	9	10	36%
Social Democrat		1			1		0%
No Description	4
BNP	2
Christian People's Alliance	1
English Democrats	3
Liberal	1
Mebyon Kernow	2
TUSAC	12
Others ***	5
Total	558	123	79	44	44	123	64%

*   Lincolnshire, Canvey Island, Derwentside and Llandaff North Independents along with Its Our County in Herefordshire and Community Action in Wigan
** 55 Independents contested 39 seats
*** 1 each for British Democrats, Blue, Justice, OMRLP and Patriotic Socialist

The Conservatives contested all but the Orkney by-election, Labour 88% and the Liberal Democrats 59% with UKIP contesting 80% and Greens 46%.

Although 44 seats changed hands during the six months, just 14 were between Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats
- Conservatives gained Cornwall: Mevagiisey and Melton: Asfordby from Labour
   together with Broadland: Wroxham, Somerset: North Frome and Wokingham: Bulmershe from Liberal Democrats
- Labour gained Charnwood: Thurmaston and Crawley: Southgate from the Conservatives and Craven: Skipton West from the Liberal Democrats
- Liberal Democrats gained Cornwall: Illogan, Epping Forest: Hemnall, Guildford: Lovelace and Maidstone: Staplehurst from the Conservatives
   together with Cambridge: Queen Edith's and York: Westfield from Labour

Conservatives gained 3 County Council divisions from a Liberal Democrat (Somerst), UKIP (Essex) and an Independent (Gloucestershire),
two seats from Labour in Cornwall and Melton along seats from a Liberal Democrat in Broadland and Wokingham, an Independent in East Cambridgeshire, Green in Kings Lynn & West Norfolk and UKIP in Cornwall
- whilst losing 4 seats to the Liberal Democrats in Cornwall, Epping Forest, Guildford and Maidstone and 2 to Labour in Charnwood and Crawley
   along with 3 to UKIP in Medway, Shepway and Swale along with 1 each to Green and Its Our County in Herefordshire and 1 an Independent in Telford & Wrekin together with 1 to SNP in Aberdeenshire
Labour gain from Conservatives in Charnwood and Crawley, Liberal Democrat in Craven, SNP in South Lanarkshire and UKIP in Merthyr Tydfil and Redditch
together with 1 each from Derwentside Independent and an Independent in Durham
- whilst losing seats to Conservatives in Cornwall and Melton, Liberal Democrat in Cambrige and York, UKIP in Doncaster and an Independent in Swansea

Liberal Democrats gain 4 seats from Conservatives in Cornwall, Epping Forest, Guildford and Maidstone, from Labour in both Cambridge and York snd from an Independent in both Northumberland and Rutland
- whilst losing seats to a Conservative in Broadland, Somerset and Wokingham, Labour in Craven, UKIP in Worthing and an Independent in North Yorkshire

Independents gained a seat from a Conservative in Telford & Wrekin, a Liberal Democrat in North Yorkshire, Canvey Island Independent in Castle Point and from Labour in Swansea
together with a seat from SNP In Argyll & Bute but was then lost at a subsequent by-election when the newly elected councillor died after just 10 days
- whilst losing a seat to a Conservative in both East Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire, to a Liberal Democrat in both Northumberland and Rutland
  along with 1 to Labour in Durham, 1 to UKIP in South Tyneside, 2 seats to Lincolnshire Independents in North Kesteven and the seat to SNP in Argyll & Bute

UKIP gained a seat from Conservatives in Medway, Shepway and Swale, one from Labour in Doncaster and another from Liberal Democrats in Worthing
as well as a seat from an Independent in South Tyneside and another from a Social Democrat in East Yorshire
- but lost a seat to a Conservative in both Cornwall and Essex along with another to Labour in both Merthyr Tydfil and Redditch

Greens gained a seat from the Conservatives in Herefordshire but lost another to the Conservatives in Kings Lynn & West Norfolk
SNP gained a seat from Conservative in Aberdeenshire but lost to Labour in South Lanarkshire and also to Independent in Argyll & Bute but subsequently regained
Its Our County gained a seat in Herefordshire from Conservatives along with Lincolnshire Independents 2 seat gain from Independents in North Kesteven
- whilst Derwentside Independent lost a seat to Labour in Durham and Canvey Island Independent to an Independent in Castle Point