Council by-elections

Yesterday's results:

Ripley & Marehay Ward, Amber Valley DC. Lab hold. Lab 585 (52.4%, +23.7), Con 531 (47.6%, -2.3). Swing of 13% from Con to Lab since 2008.

Sparkbrook Ward, Birmingham City Council. Respect hold. Respect 2495 (39.6%, -1.9), Lab 2228 (35.4%, -3.1), Con 799 (12.7%, +7.6), LD 506 (8%, +1.6), Green 213 (3.4%, +0.1), Ind 55 (0.9%, +0.9). Swing of 0.6% from Lab to Respect since 2008.

Amersham Division, Bucks CC. Con hold. Con 1840 (46.6%, -3.9), LD 1768 (44.8%, +0.1), UKIP 140 (3.5%, +3.5), Lab 106 (2.7%, -2.2), Green 95 (2.4%, +2.4). Swing of 2% from Con to LD since June this year.


Water Park Ward, Cotswold DC. LD hold. LD 894 (71.7%, +16.2), Con 353 (28.3%, -16.2). Swing of 16.2% from Con to LD since March 2008.

Beacon Ward, Newark & Sherwood DC. Con hold. Con 413 (48.2%, -0.7), LD 296 (34.6%, +7.8), Lab 147 (17.2%, -7.1). Swing of 4.3% from Con to LD since 2007.


Newark East Division, Notts CC. Con hold. Con 517 (45.2%, -6.4), LD 322 (28.1%, -2.3), Lab 198 (17.3%, -0.7), UKIP 107 (9.4%, +9.4). Swing of 2.1% from Con to LD since June this year.

South Bank Ward, Redcar & Cleveland BC. Lab hold. Lab 442 (43.6%, -6.1), LD 354 (34.9%, +17.8), Ind 102 (10.1%, +1.6), UKIP 69 (6.8%, +6.8), Con 47 (4.6%, +0.1). Swing of 12% from Lab to LD since Oct 2008.

Overall not good results for the Tories. The Amber Valley one shows the impact on Labour of the BNP standing or not standing in a key parliamentary marginal - with a BNP candidate running in 2008 the Tories won this ward. There are mutterings about foul play in the Sparkbrook campaign due to the very high number of postal votes rejected -387 - because of non-matching signatures or dates of birth.