The latest British Election Study report highlights just how volatile the electorate has become. When it began in the early 1960s, just one in eight voters changed their allegiance between General Elections; now some 50 per cent say they voted in different ways between 2010 and 2017.
Despite the national party’s continuing struggles at Westminster, Conservative candidates defended two seats and gained another in recent local contests.
While Prime Minister Boris Johnson is determinedly seizing the political agenda, it is the Liberal Democrats who are making the electoral weather.
So far, local government has avoided most of the extremes of turbulence that seem to characterise current national politics.
The two main parties continue to struggle, and Liberal Democrats and Independents are taking advantage.
Multi-party politics is back with a vengeance, with a leap in the number of Liberal Democrat, Green and Independent councillors.
There’s no escaping the national political turmoil over Brexit, even for local council by-elections.
An interesting feature of the latest local by-election results is the contrasting fate of candidates who never gave up trying.
Tower Hamlets is one of the most interesting local authorities, electorally speaking, and two by-elections to dissect is a delight.
The large majority of the more than 8,350 council seats that will fall vacant in May’s local elections were last contested four years ago on General Election day 2015.