There were two principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 18th August. Both Labour and the SNP held a seat.
In the one parish or town council by-election result reported to ALDC the Tories took a seat off Independents.
There seems to have been a spate of Royal related by-elections. On the 18th August there was a by-election for the City Centre ward in which Holyrood House falls in Edinburgh. Last week it was Windsor castle. It is also where most of the venues for the Edinburgh festival lie and this may have led to the drop in turnout from 51% in 2007 to 24% in 2011. The election was called following an SNP resignation. We currently hold one of the three seats in the ward but dropped back in line with other results in Scotland this year. The Tories were ahead on first preferences but the SNP overtook them on transfers.
In the Page Moss ward of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside we made modest progress, but Labour still won with 82% of the vote.