Byelections January - May 1985

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Date	Authority	Division / Ward	Result	Majority %	Runner-up	Turnout %	Notes
10 January 1985	West Midlands	Knowle-Packwood	C hold	39	SDP	14
17 January 1985	Hammersmith and Fulham	Margravine (2)	Lab hold	23	C	38
17 January 1985	Haringey	Tottenham Central	Lab hold	31	SDP	24
17 January 1985	Swansea	Llansimlet	Lab hold	40	L	14
24 January 1985	Caradon	Saltash Essa	L gain from C	20	Ind	26
24 January 1985	Fareham	Portchester Central	SDP hold	34	C	28
24 January 1985	South Glamorgan	Cardiff Rural No 5	C hold	2	SDP	43
7 February 1985	Chelmsford	Boreham and Springfield	L hold	13	C	21
7 February 1985	Mendip	Chilcompton	Ind hold	4	SDP	45
7 February 1985	North Tyneside	Tynemouth	C hold	40	L	29
7 February 1985	Rushmoor	Cove	L gain from C	21	C	40
7 February 1985	Tonbridge and Malling	Larkfield	L hold	50	C	14
7 February 1985	Wyre	Bourne	Lab hold	17	C	28
14 February 1985	Arfon	Faenol	SDP gain from Lab	6.5	PC	39
14 February 1985	Calderdale	Calder Valley	L hold	1	Lab	36	Majority 5 votes
14 February 1985	Halton	Kingsway	Lab hold	24	SDP	22
14 February 1985	Halton	Norton	Lab hold	58	L	12
21 February 1985	Aberdeen	Duthie	SDP gain from C	28	C	37
21 February 1985	Aberdeen	Garthdee	L gain from Lab	10	Lab	41	Endangered Lab control of council
21 February 1985	Bradford	University	Lab gain from SDP	20	SDP	36	May have been first election with Asian candidates from three main parties
21 February 1985	Brent	Sudbury	C hold	27.5	Lab	38
21 February 1985	Colwyn	Eirias	L hold	32	C	48
21 February 1985	Rotherham	Rawmarsh East	Lab hold	70	SDP	25
21 February 1985	Stratford-on-Avon	Southam	Ind hold	8	Lab	38
21 February 1985	Wigan	Bedford and Astley	Lab hold	26	L	36
21 February 1985	Wokingham	Twyford and Ruscombe	C hold	22.5	L	20
28 February 1985	Babergh	Cornard North	Lab hold	35	L	34
28 February 1985	Borders	Hawick West	SDP hold	50	Ind	43
28 February 1985	Camden	Regents Park	Lab hold	5.5	SDP	45
28 February 1985	Great Grimsby	Willows	Lab hold	10	SDP	37
28 February 1985	Greenwich	Blackheath	C hold	9	SDP	50
28 February 1985	Hackney	Clissold	Lab hold	40	SDP	29
28 February 1985	Mendip	St Cuthbert's	C gain from L	9.5	Lab	33
28 February 1985	Middlesbrough	Westbourne	Lab hold	60	C	35
28 February 1985	Newbury	Lambourne	C hold	45	L	32
28 February 1985	North Dorset	Shaftesbury	L gain from Lab	75	Lab	30	Resigning Lab cllr had been unexpectedly elected unopposed on 23/8/84 due to L nomination cockup
28 February 1985	Oswestry	Victoria	Lab hold	32	Ind	28
28 February 1985	Portsmouth	Charles Dickens	L gain from Lab	1	Lab	27
28 February 1985	Wansbeck	Central	Lab hold	56	L	30
28 February 1985	Wansbeck	College	Lab hold	46	L	41
7 March 1985	Broadland	Blofield	C hold	50	SDP	28
7 March 1985	Broadland	Heivingham	C hold	24	L	19
7 March 1985	Hambleton	Easingwold	L gain from C	2	C	41
7 March 1985	High Peak	Whaley Bridge	L gain from Ind	8	C	44
7 March 1985	Nuneaton and Bedworth	Weddington	C hold	1	SDP	39
7 March 1985	Southend	Leigh	L hold	24	C	39
7 March 1985	Sutton	Carshalton North	L gain from C	14.5	C	42
7 March 1985	Welwyn Hatfield	Hollybush	Lab hold	41	C	47
7 March 1985	West Derbyshire	St Giles and Tansley	L gain from C	1	C	46
14 March 1985	Blaby	Braunston and Ravenhurst	L gain from C	2	C	18
14 March 1985	Carmarthen	Laugharne and Pendine	Ind hold	6	Ind	72	Seven Ind candidates
14 March 1985	Gillingham	Parkwood	SDP gain from C	2.5	C	22
14 March 1985	Hove	Hangleton	C hold	20	Lab	25
14 March 1985	Islwyn	Cross Keys	Lab hold	5	SDP	52
14 March 1985	Thanet	Southwood	Ind C gain from C	10	SDP	25	Official C candidate missed nomination deadline
14 March 1985	Tynedale	Prudhoe Castle	Lab hold	6.5	L	53
21 March 1985	Aberdeen	Denburn	Lab hold	25	SDP	32
21 March 1985	Aberdeen	Fernilea	L hold	10	C	46
21 March 1985	Bexley	East Wickham (2)	L gain 2 from C	35	Lab	34
21 March 1985	Bexley	Sidcup West	C hold	30	SDP	30
21 March 1985	Bradford	Craven	L gain from C	13	C	47
21 March 1985	Bromley	Bickley	L gain from C	4.5	C	36
21 March 1985	Carmarthen	Carmarthen No 3	L gain from Ind	31	Ind	45
21 March 1985	Cumnock and Doon Valley	No 5	Lab hold	40	C	25
21 March 1985	Ealing	West End	Lab hold	38.5	C	32
21 March 1985	East Hertfordshire	Sawbridgeworth	L gain from C	5	C	32
21 March 1985	Erewash	Abbotsford Farm	Lab win	6	C	49	New ward
21 March 1985	Erewash	Cotmanhay	Lab hold	34.5	L	26
21 March 1985	Leominster	Eardisley	C gain from Ind	2	L	61
21 March 1985	North Bedfordshire	Clapham	L hold	35	Lab	37
21 March 1985	North Wiltshire	Calne South	L hold	12	C	50
21 March 1985	Sefton	Litherland	Lab hold	39	SDP	26
21 March 1985	Strathclyde	Moss Park and Bellahouston	Lab hold	40	C	25	Winner was former MP Helen McElhone
21 March 1985	Strathclyde	North Kyle	Lab gain from C	2.5	C	36	Previously safe C seat in George Younger's constituency; defeat ascribed to rates revaluation
21 March 1985	Strathclyde	Queen's Park and Crosshill	Lab hold	30	C	27
21 March 1985	Tayside	Gowrie	C hold	18	SDP	33
21 March 1985	Wychavon	Hartlebury	C hold	80	Lab	15
21 March 1985	Wyre Forest	Lickhill	C hold	1.5	L	29
28 March 1985	Bassetlaw	Carlton	Lab hold	11	C	40
28 March 1985	Bromley	Chislehurst	C hold	9.5	SDP	33
28 March 1985	Congleton	Cledford	L gain from Lab	9	Lab	37
28 March 1985	North Hertfordshire	Cadwell	C gain from Ind	2.5	SDP	42
28 March 1985	North Hertfordshire	Letchworth South West	L gain from C	10	C	58
28 March 1985	Northavon	Patchway Callicroft	Lab hold	25	SDP	30
28 March 1985	Rugby	Paddox	L gain from RA	18	RA	39
28 March 1985	Tendring	Great and Little Oakley	Lab gain from C	2	C	48
28 March 1985	Test Valley	Harewood	SDP gain from C	10	C	45
28 March 1985	Wigan	Swinley	Lab gain from C	6.5	C	38
28 March 1985	Winchester	Badger Farm	L win	31	C	53	New ward
11 April 1985	North Kesteven	Metheringham	Ind gain from C	7	C	33
11 April 1985	Poole	Newtown	L hold	9	Lab	29
11 April 1985	Teignbridge	Shaldon	Ind hold	71	Lab	29
11 April 1985	Teignbridge	Teignmouth Central	C hold	7.5	L	26
18 April 1985	Allerdale	Flimby	Lab gain from Ind	47	Ind	47	Switched council from C/Ind to Lab minority
18 April 1985	Brighton	Regency	Lab gain from C	2	C	37	Meant Lab and C equal numbers on council
18 April 1985	Carmarthen	Pencader	PC gain from Ind	3	Ind	65
18 April 1985	Cleethorpes	Central	SDP gain from C	1	Lab	34
18 April 1985	Durham County	Newton Hall	L hold	25	C	39
18 April 1985	Liverpool	Dingle	L gain from Lab	1.5	Lab	45
18 April 1985	Liverpool	Speke	Lab hold	57	SDP	40
18 April 1985	Rotherham	Swinton	Lab hold	56	SDP	29
18 April 1985	West Yorkshire	Bradford No 6	Lab hold	10	C	30	BNP campaign meeting ended in a fight
25 April 1985	Blackburn	Marsh House	L gain from C	1	C	32
25 April 1985	Perth and Kinross	Scone	L gain from C	10	C	52	C lost overall majority
2 May 1985	Barnsley	Park	Lab hold	47	SDP	36
2 May 1985	Bath	Combe Down	SDP gain from C	18	C	57
2 May 1985	Bolsover	Ault Hucknall	Lab hold	20	SDP	60
2 May 1985	Bury	Radcliffe Central	Lab hold	36	C	44
2 May 1985	Cambridge	East Chesterton	Lab gain from C	1	C	55
2 May 1985	Cannock Chase	Heath Hayes	L hold	15	Lab	37
2 May 1985	Chelmsford	St Andrews	L hold	22.5	Lab	44
2 May 1985	Colchester	New Town	SDP hold	33	Lab	45
2 May 1985	Elmbridge	Hersham South	C hold	1	Ind	46
2 May 1985	Elmbridge	Outlands Park	C hold	34	SDP	40
2 May 1985	Hackney	Haggerston	L hold	7	Lab	38
2 May 1985	Hackney	Rectory	Lab hold	63	C	28
2 May 1985	Hambleton	Northallerton South East	L gain from Lab	16.5	Lab	26
2 May 1985	Harborough	Broughton	C gain from Ind	3	L	34
2 May 1985	Harborough	Fleckney	C hold	23	L	33
2 May 1985	Harrow	Marlborough	L hold	5	Lab	47
2 May 1985	High Peak	Simmondley	C hold	7	Alliance	51
2 May 1985	Horsham	Trafalgar	C gain from Ind	14.5	L	43
2 May 1985	Ipswich	Sprites	Lab hold	38	C	30
2 May 1985	Ipswich	Whitehouse	Lab hold	42	C	30
2 May 1985	Kirkcaldy	Denbeath and Savoy	Lab hold	30	SNP	48
2 May 1985	Macclesfield	Alderley Edge	C hold	21	L	51
2 May 1985	Macclesfield	Morley and Styal	C hold	27	SDP	44
2 May 1985	Manchester	Blackley	Lab hold	36	C	41
2 May 1985	Mansfield	Oakham	C hold	23	L	37
2 May 1985	Mid Bedfordshire	Sandy St Swithins	L gain from C	11	C	39
2 May 1985	Mid Sussex	Haywards Heath Ashenground	SDP gain from C	7	C	43
2 May 1985	Mid Sussex	Keymer	SDP hold	1	C	55
2 May 1985	Milton Keynes	Stacey Bushes	L hold	4	Lab	43
2 May 1985	Newcastle-under-Lyme	May Bank	L hold	7	C	48
2 May 1985	North East Fife	Gleneden and Crail	L gain from C	10	C	57	C candidate description 'Scottish Conservative'
2 May 1985	Peterborough	Dogsthorpe	L hold	26	Lab	43
2 May 1985	Poole	Bourne Valley	SDP gain from C	10	C	39
2 May 1985	Rossendale	Worsley	Lab hold	8	C	61
2 May 1985	Rushcliffe	Bishop	C hold	28	L	51
2 May 1985	Shrewsbury and Atcham	Bagley	C hold	1	SDP	54
2 May 1985	Solihull	Fordbridge	Lab hold	51	C	24
2 May 1985	South Yorkshire	Sheffield No 10	Lab hold	55	C	26
2 May 1985	Southampton	Portswood	L hold	16	C	50
2 May 1985	St Albans	Cunningham	L hold	26	C	52
2 May 1985	St Albans	Harpenden East	C hold	1	L	56
2 May 1985	Stevenage	Roebuck	Lab gain from L	3.5	L	45
2 May 1985	Swale	Murston	L gain from Lab	12	Lab	34	Sitting Lab councillor re-elected as L
2 May 1985	Tameside	Denton North East	Lab hold	29	C	34
2 May 1985	Thamesdown	Gorsehill	Lab hold	10	L	32
2 May 1985	Thamesdown	Highworth	Lab gain from C	9	C	51	Lab gained despite council being ratecapped
2 May 1985	Tynedale	Allendale	Ind gain from L	11.5	L	50
2 May 1985	West Lindsey	Gainsborough East	L hold	11	Lab	35
2 May 1985	West Lindsey	Witham	C gain from Ind	23	Lab	40
2 May 1985	West Wiltshire	Trowbridge Drynham	C hold	5	L	40
9 May 1985	Aberdeen	Cattofield	L gain from Lab	36	Lab	44	Lab lost overall majority
9 May 1985	Bexley	Blendon and Penhill	C hold	10	L	39
9 May 1985	Coventry	Earlsdon	C hold	18	L	35
9 May 1985	Lewisham	Grove Park	C gain from Lab	4	Lab	49
9 May 1985	Vale Royal	Northwich	Lab hold	39	C	28
9 May 1985	Waverley	Bramley	SDP gain from C	13	C	33
9 May 1985	Waverley	Busbridge, Hamledon and Hascombe	C hold	14.5	L	43
9 May 1985	Waverley	Milford	SDP gain from C	15	C	53
9 May 1985	Waverley	Shottermill	SDP gain from C	26	C	30
16 May 1985	Clydebank	Duntocher	Lab hold	39	SDP	52
16 May 1985	Rushmoor	Mayfield	L gain from Lab	5	Lab	43
16 May 1985	Teignbridge	Kingsteinton East	Lab gain from L	10	C	25	Sitting L councillor sought re-election as C
23 May 1985	Calderdale	Hipperholme and Lightcliffe	C hold	13	SDP	39
23 May 1985	North East Derbyshire	Clay Cross North	Lab hold	32	SDP	41
23 May 1985	Trafford	Flixton	L hold	10	C	50
23 May 1985	Wakefield	Ossett	L hold	8	Lab	32
23 May 1985	Wealden	Crowborough North	All gain from C	9	C	27
23 May 1985	Wealden	Heathfield	L gain from C	1	C	29
23 May 1985	Wealden	Mayfield	C hold	46	L	28
30 May 1985	Rotherham	Anston and Woodsetts	Lab gain from C	17	L	28

I corrected some spelling mistakes in the original source from memory, so there may be some I missed.

[johnloony]

Oct 23, 2013 22:50:59 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

21 March 1985	Erewash	Abbotsford Farm	Lab win	6	C	49	New ward
28 March 1985	Winchester	Badger Farm	L win	31	C	53	New ward

Wow! We are all impressed as usual by your multifribulous contrafibularities.

How did those two by-elections work? The description "new ward" would suggest that a new ward was conjured up by boundary changes (and that a by-election was therefore needed to fill it) out of thin air, but without the need for simultaneous elections in all the other new (or affected) wards in the area. Where did the electors come from? What happened to their previous ward(s) in which they lived before the "new ward" came into existence, and/or its/their councillor(s)?

[Deleted]

They were the first byelections in those new wards (is how I take that)

[Pete Whitehead]

But then they would have had a party defending the seat from the previous election when they were fought

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Oct 24, 2013 8:06:22 GMT johnloony said:

Oct 23, 2013 22:50:59 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

21 March 1985	Erewash	Abbotsford Farm	Lab win	6	C	49	New ward
28 March 1985	Winchester	Badger Farm	L win	31	C	53	New ward

Wow! We are all impressed as usual by your multifribulous contrafibularities.

How did those two by-elections work? The description "new ward" would suggest that a new ward was conjured up by boundary changes (and that a by-election was therefore needed to fill it) out of thin air, but without the need for simultaneous elections in all the other new (or affected) wards in the area. Where did the electors come from? What happened to their previous ward(s) in which they lived before the "new ward" came into existence, and/or its/their councillor(s)?

The Erewash byelections arose from external boundary changes. The LGBCE recommended the transfer of Abbotsford Farm estate from Amber Valley district to Erewash district in a report issued in February 1983:

www.lgbce.org.uk/__documents/lgbce/research/lgbce-reports-1973---1992/principal-area-boundary-reviews/439-erewash,-amber-valley-and-broxtowe.pdf

(there is a comma in the address which Proboards misinterprets as the end of it, so you'll have to copy and paste the URL rather than following a link).

Note proposal 1d in Schedule 2 for the boundaries of the new ward; some of it was carved out of Cotmanhay, which seems to have caused that byelection on the same day. As it's not noted as being a byelection for all three seats, possibly the sitting councillor in Cotmanhay chose to resign in order to stand for Abbotsford ward.

In Winchester the new Badger Farm ward was created because of parish boundary changes: www.lgbce.org.uk/__documents/lgbce/research/parish-orders-from-x-drive/winchester-parishes-order-1985.pdf

[Khunanup]

That Labour gain in that particular seat in Teignbridge seems astonishing now with no councillors on that district and only 12 candidates. One of them was in that ward though.

[The Bishop]

Is it correct to say there were more by-elections then than now? I know there were more authorities/councillors back then, but is that the only reason??

[East Anglian Lefty]

One slight error - I'm reasonably sure the ward Helen McElhone was elected to was in Strathclyde, not Stratford upon Avon.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Oct 24, 2013 11:14:51 GMT East Anglian Lefty said:

One slight error - I'm reasonably sure the ward Helen McElhone was elected to was in Strathclyde, not Stratford upon Avon.

Oops. Corrected.

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2013 11:14:05 GMT The Bishop said:

Is it correct to say there were more by-elections then than now? I know there were more authorities/councillors back then, but is that the only reason??

It could be the same reason why there are fewer parliamentary by-elections now than there were then. A younger average age of councillors, perhaps - less likely to die in office.

Thanks to David for sharing this.

[thirdchill]

Oct 24, 2013 8:55:26 GMT @trident said:

Wonderful stuff David. The turnouts in the two Liverpool wards - 45% in Dingle and 40% in the very safe and very deprived Labour stronghold of Speke - show how highly-charged the political climate was in the city at that time.

And with very different results as well. Dingle being a liberal gain, after a close by-election the previous year, and Speke going to labour with an overwhelming majority.

[East Anglian Lefty]

Oct 24, 2013 10:45:53 GMT Khunanup said:

That Labour gain in that particular seat in Teignbridge seems astonishing now with no councillors on that district and only 12 candidates. One of them was in that ward though.

I note that the Liberals weren't second, either. It'd be interesting to see whether they stood, or whether a lot of their previous support plumped for the Labour candidate in their absence in order to show their opposition to the incumbent's defection. A 10% majority suggests it can't just have been a favourable split of the vote.

[middleenglander]

There were 414 council by-elections, excluding 2 contests for new wards, in the 12 month period from the beginning of June 1984 to the end of May 1985, with 146 (35%) changing hands. These results can be summarised by:

Party	Seats defended	Seats retained	Seats gained	Seats lost	Seats won	Retention rate
Conservative	178	93	14	85	107	52%
Labour	139	120	32	19	152	86%
Liberals	54	40	67	14	107	74%
SDP	8	4	21 **	4	25	50%
Independents	30	9	8	21	17	30%
Ratepayer Associations	2	0	3	2	3	0%
Other *	3	2	1	1	3	67%
Total	414	268	146	146	414	65%

*   Plaid Cymru, SNP and Progressive (South Tyneside)
** Includes one seat gained under the Alliance banner

Conservatives gained 3 seats from Labour, 2 from Liberals,  1 from SDP and 8 from Independents
- whilst losing 14 seats to Labour, 48 to Liberals, 15 to SDP (1 as Alliance), 5 to Independents and 3 to Ratepayers

Labour gained 14 seats from Conservatives, 10 from Liberals, 2 from SDP, 5 from Independents and 1 from Ratepayers
- whilst losing 3 to Conservatives, 11 to Liberals, 4 to SDP and 1 to Independents

Liberals gained 48 seats from Conservatives, 11 from Labour, 1 from SDP, 6 from Independents and 1 from Ratepayers
- whilst losing 2 to Conservatives, 10 to Labour, 1 to SDP and 1 to Independents

SDP gained 15 seats from Conservatives, 4 from Labour, 1 from Liberals and 1 from Independents
- whilst losing 1 seat to Conservatives, 2 to Labour and 1 to Liberals

Independents gained 5 seats from Conservatives, 1 from Labour, 1 from Lib Dems and 1 from SNP
- whilst losing 8 to Conservatives, 5 to Labour, 6 to Liberals, 1 to SNP and 1 to Plaid Cymru

Ratepayers gained 3 seats from Conservatives whilst losing 1 each to Labour and Liberals
SNP lost 1 seat to Independents whilst Plaid Cymru gaied 1 seat from Independents

I shall next look at differences and similarities from some 28 years ago with today.

[middleenglander]

The 12 month period from the beginning of June 1984 to the end of May 1985 covered the second year of the Parliament elected in 1983 as well as the local council cycle leading up to the County Council elections in May 1985 and slightly beyond. The 12 month period from the beginning of June 2012 to the end of May 2013 covers the same local council cycle, with County Council elections held in May 2013, although it is now the third year of the Parliament elected in May 2010.

The period 28 years ago is characterised by the new SDP, limited numerical impact from either the SNP or Plaid Cymru together little or no involvement of Greens, anti Common Market candidates and fringe parties on either the left or right. Today the Liberal Democrats have replaced the Liberals and the then new SDP whilst UKIP has recently emerged as a force in local council elections, Greens have some presence whilst the Nationalists have almost quadrupled their representation.

There were some 25,200 councillors 28 years ago according to the House of Commons Library Research / Rallings & Thrasher. Local government reorganisation has seen this reduce by some 4,600 (18½%) to around 20,600 at the present time. In 1984 / 85 there were 414 local council by-elections during the period under review and this would fall pro-rata on the current total number of councillors to some 338. There were 313 actual by-elections in the period June 2012 to May 2013 whilst there may be some 330 during calendar 2013 based on 319 already held or called with most of December still awaited. The number of contests therefore is little changed from 28 years ago when adjusted for the reduced number of councillors. Furthermore, 35% of seats changed hands in 1984 / 85 whilst it was 27% during 2012 / 13 and 29% in calendar 2013 to date. Thus the overall proportion changing hands is not vastly different to 28 years ago, although it is somewhat lower recently.

The proportion of all councillors supporting the main party groups is currently very similar to 28 years ago as shown in columns 2 and 3 in the table below.  There has been significant difference over the years with the Conservative proportion peaking at 46.1% in 2009 but as low as 18.8% in 1996 whilst Labour peaked at 48.1% in 1996 and fell to 21.4% in 2009.  Lib Dems had a roughly constant 20% share of councillors from 1995 to 2009 but has seen a reduction of one third in the number since entering the coalition.

Party	Proportion of all councillors in 1985	Proportion of all councillors in 2013	Proportion of by-election seats defended 1984 / 85	Proportion of by-election seats defended 2012 / 13
Conservative	40.5%	41.7%	43.0%	48.5%
Labour	34.7%	33.2%	33.6%	28.8%
Lib Dem / predecessors	10.5%	12.5%	15.0%	13.7%
SNP / Plaid Cymru	0.7%	2.9%	0.5%	1.3%
Others *	13.6%	9.7%	8.0%	7.7%

* currently 7.3% Independents, 1.0% UKIP, 0.7% Green, 0.4% Ratepayers and 0.3% a variety of others

At the same time, the proportion of seats being defended in both 1984 / 85 (column 4) and 2012 / 13 (column 5) has broadly reflected the overall strengths of the party groupings, with a slightly higher share than expected of Conservative seats falling vacant in both periods and a corresponding lower share of Labour seats.

The table below compares the seats retained, in the form of retention rate, along with seats gained and lost in 1984 / 85 and 2012 / 13.  Given that there are now 18½% fewer councillors in total than 28 years ago, the 146 gains and losses in 1984 / 85 equates to some 120 at today's local authority structure.  The biggest differences are the Conservatives have lost fewer seats in 2012 / 13, the Lib Dem made substantial fewer gains than their predecessors whilst others, including UKIP, have made more.  

Party	Retention rate     1984 / 85	Retention rate     2012 / 13	Seats gained     1984 / 85	Seats gained       2012 / 13	Seats lost          1984 / 85	Seats lost     2012 / 13
Conservative	52%	72%	14	15	85	43
Labour	86%	87%	32	23	19	12
Liberal / SDP	71%		88		18
Liberal Democrats		65%		18		15
Others	31%	46%	12	29	24	15
Total	65%	73%	146	85	146	85

In the 5 months since May 2013 (June to October) the overall retention rate has been 68% with the Conservatives at 65%. Labour 97%, Lib Dems 54% and others 19%.  This is not sufficiently different from the earlier periods to affect the conclusions being drawn.

It is then instructive to look at the where the various gains and losses were made by the Conservatives and Labour in the two periods:

Conservative gains:
1984 / 85 - 3 seats from Labour, 2 from Liberals, 1 SDP and 8 from Independents
2012 / 13 - 6 seats from Labour, 7 from Lib Dems and 2 from Independents
Conservative losses:
1984 / 85 - 14 seats to Labour, 48 to Liberals, 15 to SDP (1 as Alliance), 5 to Independents and 3 to Ratepayers
2012 / 13 - 11 seats to Labour, 15 to Lib Dems, 9 to UKIP, 6 to Independents and 1 each to a Green and a Liberal

Labour gains:
1984 / 85 - 14 seats from Conservatives, 10 from Liberals, 2 SDP, 5 Independents and 1 Ratepayer
2012 / 13 -  11 seats from Conservatives, 6 from Lib Dems, 4 from Independents and 1 each from SNP and Greens
Labour losses:
1984 / 85 - 3 to Conservatives, 11 to Liberals 4 SDP and 1 to an Independent
2012 / 13 - 6 to Conservatives, 2 Lib Dems and 1 each to UKIP, Plaid Cymru, a Resident Group and an Independent.

There is to my mind some remarkable similarities, as well as the obvious difference in the Lib Dem / SDP performance, between the local council by-election statistics in 1984 / 85 and 2012 / 13.  For the moment I will leave it to others to comment on the relative performances of the Conservatives and Labour.

The comparable gains and losses for the Lib Dems and their predecessors are:
1984 / 85 gains:
Liberals - 48 seats from Conservatives, 11 from Labour, 1 SDP, 6 Independents and 1 Ratepayer
SDP - 15 seats from Conservatives, 4 from Labour, 1 Liberal and 1 Independent
Combined - 63 seats from Conservatives, 15 Labour, 7 Independents, 1 Ratepayer and 2 from each other
2012 / 13 gains
Liberal Democrats - 15 seats from Conservatives, 2 from Labour and 1 from an Independent
1984 / 85 losses:
Liberals - 2 seats to Conservatives, 10 to Labour, 1 SDP and 1 to an Independent
SDP - 1 seat to Conservatives, 2 to Labour and 1 to Liberals
Combined - 3 seats to Conservatives, 12 to Labour, 1 to an Independent and 2 to each other
2012 / 13 losses:
Liberal Democrats - 7 seats to Conservatives, 6 to Labour, 1 to UKIP and 1 to an Independent

[Davıd Boothroyd]

I can give you ballpark figures for the period 9 June 1983 to 1 June 1984:

Party	Gains	Holds	Losses	Net change
Conservative	16	95	53	–37
Labour	28	88	24	+4
Liberal	46	31	6	+30
SDP	13	1	1	+12
Independents	7	5	17	–10
Others	2	1	1	+1

[middleenglander]

Nov 3, 2013 0:49:39 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

I can give you ballpark figures for the period 9 June 1983 to 1 June 1984:

Party	Gains	Holds	Losses	Net change
Conservative	16	95	53	–37
Labour	28	88	24	+4
Liberal	46	31	6	+30
SDP	13	1	1	+12
Independents	7	5	17	–10
Others	2	1	1	+1

 I take it the Liberal gains were 36, not 46, as the table is then in balance.

In that case there were some 323 by-election in just less than a year with 35% changing hands.  Conservatives had a retention rate of 64%, Labour 79%, Liberals 84% whilst for Independents it was 23%.  Overall very similar to the 12 months from June 1984.

[hullenedge]

Thank you to David for two excellent threads.

The Bradford University ward by-election on 21st February was the first 'all Asian' election. There's a 'Look North' documentary/article somewhere in the BBC archive.

The Calder Valley by-election on 14th February, Liberal Alliance win by 5 votes, created a stir because ten ballot papers were disallowed through lack of an official mark. Heaven knows how that happened.

[johnloony]

Nov 4, 2013 16:04:33 GMT hullenedge said:

... ten ballot papers were disallowed through lack of an official mark. Heaven knows how that happened.

Sadly, it is all too obvious how it happened. Incompetence by the polling station staff who didn't put the mark on the papers as they were issued.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Thankfully the new arrangements for the official mark cut out the polling station staff entirely. It means a substantial reduction in the number of byelections caused by overturning a very close election.