Lib Dems take Tory seats in latest council by-elections
Conservatives suffered three defeats at the hands of Lib Dems but won seats elsewhere.
Liberal Democrats gained three council seats from the Conservatives in the biggest set of local by-elections since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives took two seats from independents – one previously elected as Conservative and the other previously elected as Ukip.
Altogether, 14 contests took place in the latest council by-elections.
Lib Dems defeated Tories in two polls at Teignbridge District Council, in one case by just 11 votes.
Voting in the Chudleigh ward by-election which followed the resignation of a Conservative councillor was: LD 575, C 564, Lab 262. The turnout was 27.9%.
Voting in the Dawlish Central & North East ward poll following the resignation of a Tory councillor was: LD 1,287, C 535. Turnout 24.3%.
The third Lib Dem victory came at North Norfolk District Council in a by-election in Worstead ward following the resignation of a Conservative councillor.
Voting was: LD 509, C 118, Lab 73. Turnout 35.7%.
Tories gained a seat on Tendring District Council (St Paul’s ward) in a contest following the resignation of an independent councillor. He had been elected for Ukip, subsequently defected to Labour but switched to independent last year.
Voting was: C 378, Ind Andrews 160, Ind Hones 134, Lab 114, LD 79, Ukip 71, Green 20. Turnout 25.5%.
Conservatives easily regained a Lancashire County Council seat in a by-election in Morecambe North division prompted by the resignation of an independent county councillor who previously had been elected for the Tories.
Voting was: C 1,332, LD 809, Lab 580.
Elsewhere, Conservatives held seats at East Northamptonshire (Higham Ferrers Lancaster ward), Northamptonshire (Higham Ferrers division), and West Oxfordshire (Carterton South ward).
Labour held four seats – at Doncaster (Armthorpe ward), Halton (Halton Castle), North East Derbyshire (Grassmoor), and York (Holgate).
A candidate for West Ewell and Ruxley Residents’ Association held a seat in the Ruxley ward at Epsom and Ewell.
North of the border, the SNP held a Falkirk Council seat in a by-election in the Bonnybridge & Larbert ward following the death of SNP councillor and Provost of Falkirk Tom Coleman.
The successful candidate was his son, Niall Coleman.
The party topped the first-preference votes in the poll using the single transferable vote (STV) voting system.