Last week I posted a bar chart of council by-elections in October. It seems I jumped the gun. A revised bar chart has since been circulated which is an improvement on what was already a good result.
Every party expects to make some losses in council by-elections but since the May local elections the Lib Dems have defended 28 seats and lost only 2. For all my years in politics, I've never known the Lib Dems to have such a high retention level.
Although the number of Reform by-election defences is only 8, they held only 4, a retention rate of just 50%. Admittedly this is much better than the Conservatives and Labour but it does take the sheen off Reforms performance.
Back to the bar chart above: in October the Lib Dems clocked up the most wins at 16. Reform managed a respectable 13 but almost certainly lost more to resignations, suspensions, expulsions and defections. The Conservatives at three and Labour on two mean they are losing the majority of their by-election defences. Meanwhile, the long awaited Green surge is still awaited.
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