Three council by-elections this week - two Conservative defences and one Labour. Labour held its seat on Crawley Borough Council, assisted by the absence of the Lib Dems who picked up 185 votes here in May. The party leaders deny it, but the so-called 'progressive alliance' between Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens is so widespread now it is bleeding obvious. Partly as a result of this alliance, the Tories lost every seat they were defending in by-elections from the second week of April up until yesterday.
There was no progressive alliance in Mattishall (Breckland) as the seat had been a three-way contest last time and the Tories held the seat on Thursday despite an independent surge. However, the Tories lost their other seat, for which they had been elected unopposed in 2019. The Lib Dems put up a candidate this time and pushed out the Tories in Penshurst, Fordcombe and Chiddingstone (Sevenoaks).
Mattishall, Breckland Council
Con: 539 (41.9%) -4.7%
Ind: 486 (37.8%) New
Lab: 260 (20.2%) -5.2%
Con HOLD
Southgate, Crawley Borough Council
Lab: 938 (50.1%) +2.2%
Con: 790 (42.2%) +3.7%
Grn: 144 (7.7%) New
Lab HOLD
Penshurst, Fordcombe & Chiddingstone, Sevenoaks District Council
LDem: 343 (54.4%) New
Con: 288 (45.6%) Previously elected unopposed
LDem GAIN from Con
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