Council by election round up for 2014

The Fantastic work of MiddleEnglander

The total number of by-elections during 2014 at 271  was slightly down on 2010, the same period in the electoral cycle, although vacancies then may have been boosted by councillors resigning their seats on becoming MPs in the General Election.  The number of seat changing hands is consistently  close to 30%.

The nomenclature has also been altered to reflect the annual May elections this year were a couple of weeks later than normal.
Where "double" elections were held in May, the candidate with the higher vote was assumed to have won the annual election and the runner up the by-electiion.
All figures exclude deferred and delayed elections including Exeter and Norwich in 2010.

	2014	2014	2013	2013	2012	2012	2011	2011	2010	2010
	Number	Changed	Number	Changed	Number	Changed	Number	Changed	Number	Changed
England only:
- January to annual	46	33%	47	28%	48	40%	22	32%	41	44%
- annual , single contests	30	20%	114	25%	23	13%	23	17%	38	26%
- annual, multi contests	40	28%			29	17%	25	36%	45	22%
- other May to August	44	39%	56	43%	53	13%	30	37%	48	38%
- September & October	43	35%	53	23%	30	37%	36	17%	58	22%
- November & December	36	25%	40	33%	49	27%	26	31%	31	32%
England total	239	31%	310	29%	232	25%	162	28%	261	30%
Scotland	17	41%	14	43%	3	100%	18	44%	4	25%
Wales	15	27%	13	8%	8	63%	12	75%	16	38%
GB total	271	31%	337	29%	243	27%	192	32%	281	31%

The number of gains and losses by party during 2014 is given by:

Party	Gains   Jan - May	Losses   Jan - May	Gains   May 22nd	Losses   May 22nd	Gains   Jun - Dec	Losses   Jun - Dec	Total gains          2014	Total losses           2014	Net gains / (losses)            2014
Conservative	4	9	3	5	10	13	17	27	(10)
Labour	2	2	5	6	9	8	16	16	-
Liberal Democrats	5	1		1	9	6	14	8	6
SNP				1	3	2	3	3	-
Plaid Cymru					1		1		1
UKIP	1		5		8	4	14	4	10
Green			4	1	1	1	5	2	3
Resident Groups	1	1			3	3	4	4	-
Independents	2	2	2	4	5	11	9	17	(8)
Social Democrat						1		1	(1)
Independent Socialist				1				1	(1)
No Description	1	1					1	1	-
Total	16	16	19	19	49	49	84	84	-

The Conservative and Independents were the main net losers during 2014 although on a relatively limited scale at least as far as the Conservatives are concerned being both the largest councillor base and also in Government.  UKIP and the Liberal Democrats were the biggest gainers, particularly UKIP from May onwards.  Labour's gains were offset by the losses to give a net nil.

There were 141 by-elections for 142 seats during the 7 months June to December 2014 with 49 (35%) changing hand or 47 (33%) 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	138	48	35	10	13	45	73%
Labour	125	47	39	9	8	48	83%
Liberal Democrats	83	14	8	9	6	17	57%
SNP	8	4	2	3	2	5	50%
Plaid Cymru	4	1	1	1		2	100%
UKIP	113	6	2	8	4	10	33%
Green	63	2	1	1	1	2	50%
Resident Groups *	8	3		3	3	3	0%
Independents **	59	16	5	5	11	10	31%
Social Democrat		1			1		0%
No Description	4
BNP	2
Christian People's Alliance	1
English Democrats	3
Liberal	1
Mebyon Kernow	2
TUSAC	13
Others ***	5
Total	632	142	93	49	49	142	65%

*   Lincolnshire Independent, Canvey Island Independent, Derwentside Independent and Llandaff North Independent, Its Our County (Herefordshire), Community Action (Wigan) as well as Mansfield Independent Forum
** 59 Independents contested 43 seats
*** 1 each for British Democrats, Blue, Justice, OMRLP and Patriotic Socialist

The Conservatives contested all but 4 or 97% of the seats, Labour 88% and the Liberal Democrats 58% with UKIP contesting 80% and Greens 44%.

Although 49 seats changed hands during the seven months, just 15 were between Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats
- Conservatives gained Cornwall: Mevagissey and Melton: Asfordby from Labour
   together with Broadland: Wroxham, Somerset: Frome North 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 Aylesbury Vale: Southcourt, Cambridge: Queen Edith's and York: Westfield from Labour

Conservatives gained a total of 10 seats - 2 from Labour, 3 from Liberal Democrats, 2 fromUKIP, 2 from Independent and 1 from Green
- losing a total of 13 - 2 to Labour, 4 to Liberal Democrats, 3 to UKIP and 1 each to SNP, Independent, Green and Its Our County
They gained 3 County Council seats -  Essex: Brightlingsea (UKIP), Gloucestershire: Mitcheldean (Ind) and Somerset: Frome North (Lib Dem)
* along with 3 Unitary - Cornwall: Mabe, Perranarworthal & St Gluvias (UKIP), Cornwall: Megavissey (Lab) and and Wokingham: Bulmershe (Lib Dem)
* 4 District - Broadland: Wroxham (Lib Dem), East Cambridgeshire: Soham South (Ind), KingsLynn & West Norfolk: Airfield (Green) and Melton:Asfordby (Lab)
They lost 5 Unitary seats - Cornwall:Illogan (Lib Dem), Herefordshire: Ledbury (Its Our County), Herefordshire:  Leominster South (Green), Medway: Peninsula (UKIP) and Telford & Wrekin: Newport West (Ind)
* 7 District - Charnwood: Thurmaston (Lab), Crawley: Southgate (Lab), Epping Forest: Hemnall (Lib Dem), Guildford: Lovelace (Lib Dem), Maidstone: Staplehurst (Lib Dem), Shepway: Folkestone Harvey Central (UKIP) and Swale: Sheppey Central (UKIP)
* together with 1 in Scotland - Aberdeenshire: Troup (SNP)

Labour gained a total of 9 seats - 2 from Conservatives, 1 from Liberal Democrat, 2 from UKIP, 1 from SNP, 1 from Independent and 2 from Resident Groups
- losing a total of 8 - 2 to Conservatives, 3 Lto iberal Democrats and 1 each to UKIP, SNP and Independent
They gained 2 Unitary seats - Durham: Crook (Ind) and Durham: Burnopfield & Dipton (Derwentside Ind)
* 5 District - Charnwood: Thurmaston (Con), Craven: Skipton West (Lib Dem), Crawley: Southgate (Con), Mansfield, Netherfield (Mansfield Ind Forum) and Redditch: Church Hill (UKIP)
* together with 1 in Scotland and 1 in Wales - South Lanarkshire: Clydesdale South (SNP) and Merthyr Tydfil: Pennydarren (UKIP)
They lost 1 Metropolitan and 2 Unitary - Doncaster: Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall & Barnby Dun (UKIP), Cornwall: Megavissey (Con) and York: Westfield (Lib Dem)
* 3 District - Aylesbury Vale: Southcourt (Lib Dem), Cambridge: St Edith's (Lib Dem) and Melton: Asfordby (Con)
* together with 1 in Scotland and 1 in Wales - Moray: Elgin City North (SNP) and Swansea: Uplands (Ind)

Liberal Democrats gained a total of 9 seats - 4 from Conservatives, 3 Labour and 2 Independents
- whilst losing a total of 6 - 3 to Conservatives and 1 each to Labour, UKIP and Independent
They gained 4 Unitary Seats - Cornwall: Illogan (Con), York: Westfield (Lab), Northumberland: Longhoughton (Ind) and Rutland: Whissendine (ind)
* 5 District - Aylesbury Vale: Southcourt (Lab), Cambridge: St Edith's (Lab), Epping Forest: Hemnall (Con), Guildford: Lovelace (Con) and Maidstone: Staplehurst (Con)
They lost 2 County Council seats and 1 Unitary - North Yorkshire: Skipton West (Ind), Somerset: Frome North (Con) and Wokingham: Bulmershe (Con)
* 3 District - Broadland: Wroxham (Con), Craven: Skipton West (Lab) and Worthing: Castle (UKIP)

UKIP gained a total of 8 seats - 3 from Conservatives, 2 from Independents and 1 each from Labour, Liberal Democrats and Social Democrat Party
- whilst losing a total of 4 seats - 2 to Conservatives and 2 to Labour
They gained 2 Metropolitan seats - Doncaster: Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall & Barnby Dun (Lab) and South  Tyneside: Westoe (Ind)
* 1 County Council and 2 Unitary - Lincolnshire: Stamford North (Ind), East Yorkshire: Bridlington Central & Old Town (SDP) and Medway: Peninsula (Con)
* 3 District - Shepway: Folkestone Harvey Central (Con), Swale: Sheppey Central (Con) and Worthing: Castle (Lib Dem)
They lost 4 - Cornwall: Mabe, Perranarworthal & St Gluvias (Con), Essex: Brightlingsea (Con), Merhyr Tydfil: Pennydarren (Lab) and Redditch: Church Hill (Lab)

Independents gained 5 seats in total - 1 each from Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP and Canvey Island Independent
- whilst losing a total of 11 - 2 each to Conservative, Liberal Democrat, UKIP and Lincolnshire Independent as well as 1 each to Labour, Plaid Cymru and SNP
They gained 1 County Council and 1  Unitary - North Yorkshire: Skipton West (Lib Dem) and Telford & Wrekin: Newport West (Con)
* 1 District - Castle Point: Canvey East (Canvey Island Independent)
* together with 1 in Scotland and 1 in Wales  - Argyll & Bute: Oban North & Lorn (SNP) but subsequently lost in second by-election and Swansea: Uplands (Lab)
They lost 1 Metropolitan and 2 County Council - South Tyneside: Westoe (UKIP), Gloucestershire: Mitcheldean (Con) and Lincolnshire: Stamford North (UKIP)
* 3 Unitary - Durham: Crook (Lab), Northumberland: Longhoughton (Lib Dem) and Rutland: Whissenden (Lib Dem)
* 3 District - East Cambridgeshire: Soham South (Con), North Kesteven: Quarrington & Mareham (Lincs Ind) and North Kesteven: Westholme (Lincs Ind)
* together with 1 in Scotland and 1 in Wales - Argyll & Bute: Oban North & Lorn (SNP) in second by-election and Carmarthenshire: Trelech (Plaid Cymru)

Resident Groups gained Herefordshire: Ledbury (Its our County from Con), North Kesteven:  Quarrington & Mareham (Lincs Ind from Ind) and North Kesteven: Westholme (Lincs Ind from Ind)
- but lost Castle Point: Canvey East (Canvey Island Ind to Ind), Durham: Burnopfield & Dipton (Derwentside Ind to Lab) and Mansfield: Netherfield (Mansfield Ind Forum to Lab)

Greens gained Herefordshire: Leominster South (Con) but lost Kings Lynn & West Norfolk: Airfield (Con)
Social Democrat Party lost East Yorkshire: Bridlington Central & Old Town (UKIP)

SNP regained Argyll & Bute: Oban North & Lorn (Ind), gained Aberdeenshire: Troup (Con) and Moray: Elgin City North (Lab)
- but losing Argyll & Bute: Oban North and Lorn (Ind) in first by-election and South Lanarkshire: Clydesdale South (Lab)
whilst Plaid Cymru gained Carnarthenshire: Trelech (Ind)