Council by-elections

There were four by-elections yesterday, with no seats changing hands.

Macclesfield Hurdsfield Ward, Cheshire East UA. Lab hold. Lab 341 (36.7%, -9.9), LD 239 (25.8%, -1), Con 168 (18.1%, -8.5), UKIP 132 (14.2%, +14.2), Green 48 (5.2%, +5.2). Swing of 4.5% from Lab to LD since 2011.

Castle Ward, Newcastle-upon-Tyne CC. LD hold. Lib Dem 1165 (43.7%, -6.2), Lab 1043 (39.2%, +4.6), Newcastle First 215 (8.1%, +0.1), Con 194 (7.3%, -0.3), TUSC 47 (1.8%, +1.8). Swing of 5.4% from LD to Lab since 2012.

South Heaton Ward, Newcastle-upon-Tyne CC. Lab hold. Labour 798 (61.2%, -8.2), Green 205 (15.7%, +3.5), LD 114 (8.7%, -0.5), TUSC 69 (5.3%, +1), Con 52 (4%, -0.7), Newcastle First 44 (3.4%, +3.4), Ind 22 (1.7%, +1.7). Swing of 5.9% from Lab to Green since 2012.

Norden Ward, Rochdale MBC. Con hold. Con 1081 (51.2%, -16.3), Lab 627 (29.7%, +4.6), LD 246 (11.7%, +4.4), NF 156 (7.4%, +7.4). Swing of 10.5% from Con to Lab since 2012.

Council by-election

Just one by-election last night, in Sussex, with Independent and UKIP candidates present in 2011 but not this time, and their votes mainly going to the Tories:


Angmering Ward, Arun DC. Con hold. Con 878 (63.9%, +22.2), Lab 268 (19.5%, +4.8), LD 228 (16.6%, +1.5%). Swing of 8.7% from Lab to Con since 2011. Labour move up from 3rd place to 2nd.

Progress Column

My Progress column this week was about Baroness Thatcher: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2013/04/11/labour-let-thatcher-happen/

Council by-elections

By-elections in the last two weeks below. Solid Labour performances in marginal wards versus the LDs, but a Lib Dem recovery in other wards, good UKIP performances including a gain from the Tories in NE Lincs.


11th April

Lascelles Ward, Darlington UA. Lab hold. Lab 426 (63.4%, -5), LD 129 (19.2%, +19.2), Con 117 (17.4%, -14.2). Swing of 12.1% from Lab to LD since 2011.

Burton Ward, Pembrokeshire CC. Ind Plus gain from Ind. Ind Plus 291 (43.8%), Con 166 (25%), Lab 162 (24.4%), Ind 46 (6.9%). Ind was unopposed in 2012.

10th April

Wigmore Ward, Luton UA. LD hold. LD 982 (46.8%, +4.5), Lab 517 (24.6%, +0.9), Con 281 (13.4%, -10.9), UKIP 230 (11%, +1.2), Ind 62 (3%, +3), Green 27 (1.3%, +1.3). Swing of 1.8% from Lab to LD since 2011.

4th April

Prescot East Ward, Knowsley MBC. Lab hold. Lab 515 (57.9%, -5.8), LD 328 (36.9%, +3.9), Con 47 (5.3%, +2). Swing of 4.9% from Lab to LD since 2012.

Prescot West Ward, Knowsley MBC. Lab hold. Lab 441 (43.8%, -2.8), LD 403 (40.1%, +2.2), TUSC 86 (8.5%, -1.3), Con 62 (6.2%, +0.5), Green 14 (1.4%, +1.4). Swing of 2.5% from Lab to LD since 2012.

St Michaels Ward, Knowsley MBC. Lab hold. Lab 676 (85.7%, -7.1), LD 69 (8.7%, +1.6), Con 44 (5.6%, +5.6). Swing of 4.4% from Lab to LD since 2012.

Humberston and New Waltham Ward, NE Lincolnshire UA. UKIP gain from Con. UKIP 1098 (42%, +6.6), Con 738 (28.2%, -15.3), Lab 470 (18%, -3.1), LD 311 (11.9%, +11.9). Swing of 11% from Con to UKIP since 2012.

Bilborough Ward, Nottingham CC. Lab hold. Lab 1542 (67.2%, +5.9), UKIP 347 (15.1%, +15.1), Con 176 (7.7%, -11.9), Green 103 (4.5%, +4.5), LD 96 (4.2%, -5.8), Elvis Party 31 (1.4%, +1.4). Swing of 4.6% from Lab to UKIP since 2011.

Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey Ward, Nottingham CC. Lab hold. Lab 627 (52.9%, +10), LD 368 (31%, +1.4), Con 116 (9.8%, -14.3), UKIP 75 (6.3%, +2.8). Swing of 4.3% from LD to Lab since 2011.

Pemberton Ward, Wigan MBC. Lab hold. Lab 1084 (57.4%, -22.7), UKIP 451 (23.9%, +23.9), Community Action 203 (10.7%, -0.9), Con 89 (4.7%, -3.5), BNP 63 (3.3%, +3.3). Swing of 23.3% from UKIP to Lab since 2012.

Labour Euro Candidates

Labour has announced its lists of candidates for the European Parliament elections next year. There will now be an OMOV ballot of Party members in each region to rank the candidates. The sitting MEPs who are restanding will top each regional list.

When voting, members will need to place the re-selected sitting MEPs in order of preference (voting 1, 2, etc). To comply with the Labour Party’s rules regarding positive action and also to counter the possible losses of female elected representatives that may arise from the effects of EU enlargement it is again proposed that one of the top two places for re-selected MEPs in each region is filled by a woman.

There will be a separate ballot of newly selected candidates for the vacant seats to place them in order behind the re-selected MEPs. There will be separate voting, in order of preference, women and men. Women and men will then appear alternately in the list. This method of preference voting is known as zipping. A woman will be placed at the top of the vacant seats list.

The exceptions are as follows:

• where only women MEPs (more than one) have been re-selected. In this case a man will be top of the vacant seats list.
• where only one woman MEP is re-selected, then the ballot for new candidates will not have separate sections for women and men, and will be taken in a single vote. The candidate with the highest vote will take the top place, and the list will be zipped thereafter.
• where one woman MEP and one male MEP is re-selected, then the ballot for new candidates will not have separate sections for women and men, and will be taken in a single vote. The candidate with the highest vote will take the top place, and the list will be zipped thereafter.

East Midlands
MEP
Glennis Wilmott
New candidates
Nicki Brooks
Khalid Hadadi
Rory Palmer
Linda Woodings

Eastern
MEP
Richard Howitt
New candidates
Naseem Ayub
Bhavna Joshi
Alex Mayer
Paul Bishop
Sandy Martin
Chris Ostrowski

London
MEPs
Mary Honeyball
Claude Moraes
New candidates
Sanchia Alasia
Lucy Anderson
Ivana Bartoletti
Andrea Biondi
Seb Dance
Kamaljeet Jandu

North
New candidates
Judith Kirton-Darlin
Jayne Shotton
Paul Brannen
Nick Wallis

North West
MEP
Arlene McCarthy
New candidates:
Steve Carter
Kevin Doran
Theresa Griffin
Afzal Khan
Wajid Khan
Pascale Lamb
Angeliki Stogia
Julie Ward

South East
New candidates
Anneliese Dodds
Maggie Hughes
Karen Landles
Farah Nazeer
Emily Westley
Phil Bloomer
John Howarth
Del Singh
James Swindlehurst
James Watkins

South West
New candidates:
Clare Moody
Ann Reeder
Jude Robinson
Junab Ali
Glyn Ford
Hadleigh Roberts

West Midlands
New candidates:
Claire Edwards
Neena Gill
Olwen Hamer
Lynda Waltho
Ansar Ali-Khan
Anthony Ethapemi
Sion Simon

Yorkshire & the Humber
MEP
Linda McAvan
New candidates
Richard Corbett
Daren Hughes
Asghar Khan
Helen Mirfin-Boukouris
Tracey Simpson-Lang
Eleanor Tunnicliffe

Scotland
MEPs
David Martin
Catherine Stihler
New candidates
Asim Khan
Derek Munn
Katrina Murray
Kirsty O'Brien

Wales
MEP
Derek Vaughan
New candidates
Jayne Bryant
Christina Rees
Alex Thomas