Six by-elections this week - three in England and three in Scotland. Labour were defending one seat - in Tower Hamlets - and were crushed by local party Aspire. Aspire is the successor party of Tower Hamlets First, the party that was banned in 2015 due to its involvement in electoral fraud. The driving force behind both parties is Lutfur Rahman, a former Labour councillor.
Elsewhere in England there was a narrow hold for the Tories in Suffolk, fending off a surge from the Lib Dems who took full advantage of the absence of Green and independent candidates. The Lib Dems had a good night both north and south of the border, with an easy hold in Cumbria and two gains in the Highlands. The Highland results followed several rounds of counting due to the STV (single transferable vote) method in which second preference votes are counted until a candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the vote.
In North Ayrshire there was no need for further counting as the Conservatives stunned the incumbent SNP on first preference votes. The Sturgeon and her separatist fanatics won't be happy with this week's results.
Orwell & Villages, East Suffolk District Council
Con: 873 (45.9%) +10.9%
LDem: 800 (42.0%) New
Lab: 230 (12.1%) -1.5%
Con HOLD
Inverness West, The Highland Council
(First preference votes)
SNP: 718 (33.7%) +4.4%
LDem: 678 (31.8%) +4.2%
Con: 293 (13.7%) +1.8%
Ind: 230 (10.8%) New
Grn: 159 (7.5%) New
ISP: 42 (2%) New
SLP: 11 (0.5%) New
LDem GAIN from Ind (elected at stage 7)
Wick & East Caithness, The Highland Council
(First preference votes)
LDem: 657 (27.3%) +23.6%
Ind: 622 (25.8%) +18.8%
SNP: 593 (24.6%) +12.9%
Con: 523 (21.7%) +7.8%
SLP: 16 (0.7%) New
LDem GAIN from Ind (elected at stage 5)
Dalry & West Kilbride, North Ayrshire Council
Con: 2,016 (53.5%) +31.3%
SNP: 1,292 (34.3%) +10.5%
Lab: 305 (8.1%) -0.3%
LDem: 58 (1.5%) New
SLab: 57 (1.5%) New
Ind: 42 (1.1%) +0.6%
Con GAIN from SNP
Grange, South Lakeland District Council
LDem: 1,336 (66.2%) +6.0%
Con: 541 (26.8%) +0.4%
Grn: 85 (4.2%) -2.7%
Labour: 56 (2.8%) -3.8%
LDem HOLD
Weavers, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Asp: 1,204 (46.5%) +31.4%
Lab: 742 (28.6%) -21.8%
Con: 360 (13.9%) +7.6%
Grn: 205 (7.9%) -1.8%
LDem: 50 (1.9%) -5.7%
TUSC: 30 (1.2%) New
Asp GAIN from Lab
Abbreviations
Con = Conservative
LDem = Liberal Democrat
Lab = Labour
SNP = Scottish National Party
Grn = Green
ISP = Independence for Scotland
SLP = Scottish Libertarian Party
SLab = Socialist Labour
Asp = Aspire
TUSC = Trade Union and Socialist Coalition
Ind = Independents
