Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher

There is usually a sparsity of local by-elections in the weeks before the annual May contests, and 2024 is no exception. 

On 2 May, 107 councils across England go to the polls, with more than 2,600 seats at stake. 

At the very end of February, the Conservatives made a gain from the Liberal Democrats, their first since November 2022.  

The last month produced a small crop of by-elections but two-thirds of them saw a seat change hands amid some surprising results.  

The face of local government in England is undergoing incremental yet quite radical change.

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.

Labour’s victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West parliamentary by-election ensures that the imminent contests in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth will be examined for further evidence of a resurgence.

Almost half of the local by-election contests held over the summer resulted in a seat changing hands.