Labour has shrugged off divisions over the leadership to score a hat-trick of council by-election gains as activists gather for their party conference in Liverpool.
The party took two seats from Conservatives and one from the SNP in the latest local contests.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats continued their winning streak by taking a council seat from the Tories, following a gain from Labour earlier in the week, and Plaid Cymru took a seat from independent.
Read more: Conservationists criticise Donald Trump-style sand dune golf course plan
Labour pushed Conservatives into third place in taking a seat in the Christchurch ward of Allerdale Council following the resignation of a Tory councillor.
Voting was: Lab 324, LD 234, C 206, Ukip 32.
Labour's second victory over the Tories came at North Warwickshire (Arley & Whitacre) in a contest prompted by the resignation of a Conservative councillor.
Voting was: Lab 577, C 390.
North of the border, Labour inflicted a defeat on the SNP, topping the first-preference votes to take a seat at North Lanarkshire (Coatbridge North & Glenboig).
First-preference voting was: Lab 1,350, SNP 1,261, C 366, Green 195, Ukip 63.
Read more: Conservationists criticise Donald Trump-style sand dune golf course plan
The contest followed the resignation of SNP councillor Fulton MacGregor, who was elected MSP for Coatbridge & Chryston in the Holyrood elections in May.
Elsewhere, Labour comfortably held a seat at Gateshead (Chopwell & Rowlands Gill).
The latest Lib Dem gain came at Teignbridge (Teignmouth Central) where they took a seat from Conservatives in a by-election following the death of a Tory councillor.
Voting was: LD 491, C 286, Ukip 111, Lab 72.
Earlier in the week, Lib Dems took a seat from Labour on Cardiff Council in the Plasnewydd division.
Among the other latest council by-elections, Plaid Cymru gained a seat from independent on Carmarthenshire County Council (Cilycwm division) in a contest following the death of an independent councillor.
Voting was: PC 201, Ind Davies 151, Lab 123, Ind Paul 106, People First 64, LD 62, C 15. Turnout was relatively high at 61%.
Read more: Conservationists criticise Donald Trump-style sand dune golf course plan
Meanwhile, Conservatives held seats at Cherwell (Adderbury, Bloxham & Bodicote) and South Northamptonshire (Old Stratford), where the by-election was prompted by the resignation of Conservative Stephen Mold as a councillor following his election as Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner in May.
A result was expected later from a by-election at Suffolk (Hadleigh division) following the resignation of an independent councillor who was previously elected as a Conservative.
The local by-election tallies since the May elections currently stand as follows:
C: +5, -13, held 24
Lab: +7, -10, held 21
LD: +15, -0, held 6
SNP: +1, -2, held 0
Plaid Cymru: +1, -0, held 2
Green: +1, -0, held 0
Ukip: +4, -3, held 2
Ind/Other: +3, -9, held 5.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel