ALDC by-election report, 15th OctoberFive principal authority by-elections took place across England and Wales this week - one on Tuesday 13th October and four on Thursday 15th October. The Liberal Democrats were defending two seats (in Wiltshire and Mid Devon), Labour defended one in Gloucestershire, Reform UK defended one in Leicestershire, and an Independent defence in North Wales. It was an exceptional week of defensive strength for the Liberal Democrats, holding both of our contested seats with authority. In Mid Devon, we swept nearly three-quarters of the vote in Bradninch, while in Wiltshire, we halted a Conservative comeback in Salisbury Milford. Elsewhere, Reform UK's ... (more) |
A brilliant maiden speech from Dave McCobbThe latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, is out and you can also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: Welcome to my latest update on work in the House of Lords. This time long-term readers will be glad to know, cattle-grids get a mention again. Much more importantly, so does the maiden speech of new Liberal Democrat peer, Dave McCobb and the valedictory speech of soon to depart Liberal Democrat peer, John ... (more) |
What is democracy?This is a question that can be asked of anyone, and will allow any person to receive a variant of the answer every time. Yet one idea remains clear, and that is the government operates under the consent of the governed. As Liberal Democrats, we need to understand our namesake. We are democratic, we are a group that promotes liberalism and equality and importantly in relation to this, we promote a fairer system of voting; proportional representation. Everyone should have the right to feel as though their vote counts, everyone should feel valued as a participant in a democratic society. ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1592Thom Hartmann says Trump is teaching America what every dictator knows: "When we think of strongman dictatorships we often imagine tanks in the streets, but those usually come in the later stages of repression (think Tienanmen Square) and often are never even needed (think today;s Russia). Instead, as every dictator on Earth can tell you, you don't have to silence the entire country; all you have to do is shut up a few strategically selected people visibly and publicly enough and the rest of the country will get the message and back away." Zack Polanski did not handle the Green ... (more) |
A pair of Liberal Democrat by-election winsWe had another unusual non-Thursday principal authority council by-election this week, on Tuesday in Stroud: Rodborough (Stroud) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 47.0% (+13.2) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 31.7% (+1.5) [IMG: ➡] RFM: 12.9% (New) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 6.9% (-3.9) [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 1.5% (New)No Ind (-25.2) as previous.Labour HOLD.Changes w/ 2024. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2026-10-13T22:27:05.861Z (For my statistics, this counts as an Independent/Other hold.) For what all this means for the running total of council by-election results since the last May elections, see my council by-elections scorecard here. These by-election results round-ups cover principal authority by-elections as ... (more) |
Labour to shun pacts with GreensThe Independent reports that Labour has told all of its local councils that share power with the Green Party that they must terminate their pacts if local Greens do not condemn its motion declaring 'Zionism is racism'. The paper says that although Andy Burnham has ruled out a future power-sharing deal with the Green Party, it was unclear whether this would extend to local councils. However, the party has now asked its councils in joint administrations with Zack Polanski's party to "review" its arrangements, saying if Green groups did not issue a "clear and unambiguous statement" condemning the motion within ... (more) |
Council by-election results scorecard 2026-2027Here's the tally of seats changing hands in principal authority council by-elections held between the May 2026 and the May 2027 local elections: Con Lab Lib Dem Green Reform SNP Plaid Ind/ Other Net Con [15] +1 (+1/0) +1 (+3/-2) -2 (+2/-4) -6 (+3/-9) -1 (0/-1) – +2 (+3/-1) -5 Lab -1 (0/-1) [15] -1 (0/-1) -1 (+3/-4) 0 (+8/-8) +1 (+1/0) – 0 (+1/-1) -2 Lib Dem -1 (+2/-3) +1 (+1/0) [19] +1 (+1/0) +2 (+2/0) -1 (0/-1) – +3 (+3/0) +5 Grn +2 (+4/-2) +1 (+4/-3) -1 (0/-1) [7] – +1 (+1/0) – – +3 Ref +6 (+9/-3) ... (more) |
How many councillors has Reform UK lost since the May 2026 elections?Given how popular (and lengthy!) my list of Reform councillor departures after the May 2025 elections turned out to be, here is a new list, this time for councillors on principal authorities elected under the Reform banner on 7 May 2026, or in by-elections after that date, who have already departed the party for one reason or another. Jay Cooper, Sefton: declared "not welcome" by Nigel Farage following reports of him calling the Holocaust a hoax and then resigned from the party (May 2026). Stuart Prior, Essex: expelled by Reform and resigned as a councillor after "he was accused the ... (more) |
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a man falling off a paddleboard - for everEmbed from Getty ImagesSo what went on in that meeting of Liberal Democrat MPs on Tuesday evening? The fury with critics of Ed Davey we were told about beforehand seems to have evaporated overnight, as everyone has told us how positive it was. Zoe Crowther and Harriet Symonds say on PoliticsHome: Supportive MPs described Davey as having been "in listening mode" at the meeting, with most MPs keen to join in a discussion on how the party can grow ahead of the next general election and build on its record number of MPs. PoliticsHome understands that only three MPs spoke ... (more) |
Lord Bonkers 30 years ago: David Chidgey in the Bird of LibertyIt's high time (it says here) we saw again what Lord Bonkers was up to 30 years ago. So here's an extract from the diary he contributed to Liberator 239, which was dated September 1996 and available from our stall at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton. The late David Chidgey, I should explain, as well as being MP for Eastleigh from 1994 to 2005, was in 1996 the pilot of the Liberal Democrats' own spacecraft Bird of Liberty. He was eventually rescued from a tropical island paradise after being downed in a collision with a Russian (or Commonwealth of ... (more) |