Voter volatility
Following a general election, especially one as dramatic as 4 July’s, council by-elections can provide evidence about voters in the new political environment.
Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher
A fragmented vote distribution
Many councillors took the opportunity of the snap general election to resign their seats, minimising the costs to local authorities of conducting by-elections.
Horses for courses
The 2 May local elections saw the Conservatives hit their lowest number of councillors and councils controlled for a quarter of a century.
A sparsity of results
There is usually a sparsity of local by-elections in the weeks before the annual May contests, and 2024 is no exception.
Local elections 2024 preview
On 2 May, 107 councils across England go to the polls, with more than 2,600 seats at stake.
Lancaster tops by-elections table
At the very end of February, the Conservatives made a gain from the Liberal Democrats, their first since November 2022.
Leading the way
The last month produced a small crop of by-elections but two-thirds of them saw a seat change hands amid some surprising results.
Changing face of local government
The face of local government in England is undergoing incremental yet quite radical change.
By-elections review 2023
Losing more than 1,000 councillors last May, and suffering regular by-election defeats, the Conservatives must be hoping fortunes improve as the next General Election looms.
A mixed picture
Following on from their spectacular 2021 gain in the North Shropshire parliamentary by-election, Liberal Democrats in the county are thriving.