JANUARYS COUNCIL BY ELECTION PERFORMANCES

MddleEnglander continues to do a great job of collating the information

There were  5 by-elections for 6 seats during January 2015 with none changing hands. The results can be summarised by:

Party	Candidates	Defended	Retained	Gained	Lost	Won	retention rate
Conservative	6	4	4			4	100%
Labour	5	1	1			1	100%
Liberal Democrat	4
SNP	1	1	1			1	100%
UKIP	6
Green	3
Indpendent *	2
Total	27	6	6			6	100%

* 2 Independents contesting 1 seat

Conservatives retained:
- St Albans, Marshalswick South - 2 seats in 3 member ward - with an average majority of 8.5% over Liberal Democrat compared to 15.9% over Labour in 2014
   Liberal Democrats won this ward each year from 2003 to 2010 apart from 2006 with Conservatives winning 2006, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015 by-elections
   Swing Conservative to Liberal Democrat 5½% since 2014, 1¾% since 2012, 6½% since 2011 but 4½% Liberal Democrat to Conservative since 2010
- Wealden, Crowborough West - a 2 member ward - with a 17.4% majority in a straight fight with UKIP
   2011 (average) majority was ~43% in straight fight with Labour and ~42% over Liberal Democrat in 3-way 2007 contest
- West Berkshire, Purley-on-Thames - 2 member ward - with 55.6% majority over Labour and swing from Labour ~2% (average) since 2011 and 3½% since 2007
   2011 (average) majority was 51.7% over Labour and ~49% in 2007 over Greens, Labour and Liberal Democrats who all polled similar shares

Labour retained Bolsover, Bolsover North West - a 2 member ward - with a 5½% majority over UKIP
- compared to a 33% majority over sole Conservative in 2011, 19% over sole Liberal Democrat in 2007 and unopposed in 2003

SNP retained Fife, Kirkaldy East with a 12% first preference majority over Labour and a swing Labour to SNP of 12.8% since 2012 and 9.3% since 2007
- SNP first preference share was 47.3%, a 10.9% increase since 2012 and 11.9% since 2007

Conservatives polled:
- 15.5% in Bolsover, Bolsover North West, a fall of 18.2% (average) since 2011 when fielded a single candidate but did not contest 2007 and 2003
- 7.2% in Fife, Kirkaldy East, a first preference increase of 1.2% since 2012 but a fall of 0.4% since 2007
- in St Albans, Marshalswick South
- 58.7% in Wealden, Crowborough West, a fall of 12.9% (average) since 2011 and 6.1% since 2007
- 68.1% in West Berkshire, Purley-on-Thames, a fall of 2.2% (average) since 2011 but 6.3% increase since 2007

Labour polled:
- 45.0% in Bolsover, Bolsover North West, a fall of 21.3% (average) since 2011 and 14.3% since 2007 having been returned unopposed in 2003
- 35.3% in Fife, Kirkaldy East. a first preference fall of 14.6% since 2012 and 6.7% since 2007
- in St Albans, Marshalswick South
- 12.5% in West Berkshire, Purley-on-Thames, a fall of 6.0% (average) since 2011 and 0.2% since 2007
- did not contest Wealden, Crowborough West having polled ~28% in 2011 and 13% in 2007

Liberal Democrats polled:
- 1.3% in Fife, Kirkaldy East, a fall of 1.5% since 2012 and 10.8% since 2007
- in St Albans, Marshalswick South
- 7.6% in West Berkshire, Purley-on-Thames, a fall of 3.7% since 2011 (average) and 5% since 2007
- did not contest Bolsover, Bolsover North West having polled ~40% in 2007 nor Wealden, Crowhurst West having polled ~22% also in 2007

UKIP polled:
- 39.5% in Bolsover, Bolsover North West from nowhere
- 3.8% in Fife, Kirkaldy East from nowhere
- in St Albans
- 41.3% in Wealden, Crowhurst West from nowhere in straight fight with Conservative
- 11.9% in West Berkshire, Purley-on-Thames from nowhere

Greens polled:
- 4.1% in Fife, Kirkaldy East from nowhere
- in St Albans, Marsalswick South
- did not contest West Berkshire, Purley-on-Thames havong polled ~ 13% in 2007

Independents polled:
- 1% by the 2 candidates in Fife, Kirkaldy East