This week’s round of local elections and byelections was a mixed bag.
The Conservatives held county council seats in Suffolk (Stowmarket North and Stowupland division) and Oxfordshire (Carterton South West division). In an important result in Vale Royal District in the Davenham and Moulton ward, where the poll had been postponed in May due to the death of a candidate, two Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat were elected: this ensures Conservative control of the district.
Other postponed elections tended to stay with the party that had previously won them: the Conservatives kept their two seats in Meopham North (Gravesham Borough) and their one in Carterton North East (West Oxfordshire District). Labour retained its seat at Hednesford South (Cannock Chase District). Both seats at Featherstone and Sharehill ward in South Staffordshire District went to Independents, as one incumbent Labour councillor lost his seat.
Independent candidates suffered in three seats where nominations were reopened because too few candidates were nominated for May’s elections. In Llanyblodwel and Pant (Oswestry Borough) and Upper Culm (Mid Devon District), it was the Conservatives that gained; in Pickering East (Ryedale District) it was the anti-merger Liberal Party.
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