Council by-elections

There were five by-elections yesterday:

New Tredegar Ward, Caerphilly CBC. Lab hold. Lab 694 (85.5%, +12.8), PC 94 (11.6%, +11.6), Con 24 (3%, +3). Swing of 0.6% from PC to Lab since May this year.

St Mary’s Ward, Fenland DC. Con hold. Con 397 (62.5%, +16.5), Ind 160 (25.2%, -15.7), Lab 78 (12.3%, +12.3). Swing of 16.1% from Ind to Con since 2011.

Seaton Ward, Hartlepool UA. Hartlepool First gain from Ind. Hartlepool First 441 (38.4%, +24.9), Lab 261 (22.7%, +8.4), Ind 193 (16.8%, -33.8), UKIP 128 (11.1%, -2), Con 94 (8.2%, -0.3), LD 31 (2.7%, +2.7). Swing of 8.3% from Lab to Hartlepool First since May this year.

Didcot All Saints Ward, South Oxfordshire DC. Lab hold. Lab 436 (47%, + 4.6), Con 340 (36.7%, -6.9), LD 151 (16.3%, +2.3). Swing of 5.8% from Con to Lab since 2011.

Pinkneys Green Ward, RB Windsor & Maidenhead. LD gain from Con. LD  839 (43.2%, +1.2), Con 831 (42.8%, -5), UKIP  152 (7.8%, +7.8), Lab 121 (6.2%, -4).  Swing of 3.1% from Con to LD since 2011.

Labourlist column

My Labourlist column this week previews the PCC elections: http://labourlist.org/2012/10/a-highly-unpredictable-set-of-elections/

Council by-elections

Good results for Labour last night in Brighton and for Kent County Council:

Frampton & Holme Ward, Boston BC. Ind hold. Ind 204 (39.2%, -17.8), Ind 139 (26.7%, -2.2), Con 126 (24.2%, +24.2), UKIP 32  (6.1%, -8), Lab 19 (3.6%, +3.6).  No meaningful swing calculable. Change is since 2011.

East Brighton Ward, Brighton & Hove UA. Lab hold. Lab 1596 (56.1%, +8.9), C 531 (18.7%, -3.2), Green 456 (16%, -4.4), UKIP 148 (5.2%, +5.2), LD 59 (2.1%, -4.8), TUSC 55 (1.9%, -1.7). Swing of 6.1% from Con to Lab since 2011.

Maidstone Central Division, Kent CC. LD hold. LD 2169 (40.1%, -5.7), Con 1301 (24.1%, -1.6), Lab 943 (17.4%, +11.2), UKIP 510 (9.4%, -3.7), Green 393 (7.3%, -2), Eng Dem 89 (1.6%, +1.6). Swing of 2.1% from LD to Con since 2009.

Allington Ward, Maidstone BC. LD hold. LD 885 (52.4%, -4.2), Con 434 (25.7%, -4.6), Lab 179 (10.6%, -2.5), UKIP 162 (9.6%, +9.6), Green 30 (1.8%, +1.8). Swing of 0.2% from Con to LD since May this year.

Labourlist column

My Labourlist column this week is encouraging people to join the TUC march against austerity on Saturday:

http://labourlist.org/2012/10/see-you-on-saturday/

Council by-elections

Sutton-on-Sea North Ward, East Lindsey DC. Sutton-on-Sea 1st hold. SoS 1st 330 (54.9%,  -13.2),

Con 118 (19.6%, -1.8), Lab 90 (15% +4.5), Ind 63 (10.5%, +10.5). Swing of 5.7% from SoS 1st to Con since 2011.

Whitefoot Ward, LB Lewisham. Lab gain from LD. Lab 924 (41.9%, +0.3), LD 646 (29.3%, -6.3), Con 258 (11.7%, -4.7), Lewisham People before Profit 241 (10.9%, +7.7), UKIP 100 (4.5%, +4.5), Green 36 (1.6%, -1.6). Swing of 3.3% from LD to Lab since 2010.

Saying no to a primary for London Mayor 2016

John Spellar and I have written a joint article opposing the call made last week for London Labour to use a primary to pick its 2016 Mayoral candidate: http://labourlist.org/2012/10/a-london-primary-would-be-wrong-for-the-labour-party/

Progress Column

My Progress column this week reviews the Tory conference: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/10/11/no-compromise-with-the-voters/

Labourlist column

My Labourlist column this week is about how we might radically reform Labour Party Annual Conference:
http://labourlist.org/2012/10/conference-needs-to-change-so-split-it-in-two/

Hugh Gaitskell

My article about Hugh Gaitskell from the conference edition of Progress magazine:
http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/10/02/a-natural-hero/