The latest updates on local electoral information are as follows.
Results
- City of London: The election of an Alderman for Billingsgate ward held on 31 January was won by Bronek Masojada.
- Surrey: The byelection for a county councillor in Warlingham division on 31 January was won by Becky Rush. Conservative hold.
Changes of allegiance
- South Oxfordshire: Six councillors have been suspended from the Conservative group after failing to follow the whip over the council’s local plan. They are former council leader John Cotton (Berinsfield ward). Elizabeth Gillespie (Garsington and Horspath ward), Tony Harbour (Didcot North East ward), Elaine Hornsby (Wallingford ward), Sue Lawson (Sandford and the Wittenhams ward), and Imran Lokhon (Wallingford ward).
- Windsor and Maidenhead: Hari Sharma, who was elected for the Conservative Party in Furze Platt ward, has left the party to sit as an Independent councillor.
New vacancies
- Allerdale: Moorclose ward, after the death of Independent councillor Denis Robertson. His term would have ended in May so no byelection can be held.
- Breckland: Thetford Castle ward, after the death of UK Independence Party councillor John Newton. As his term was due to end in May, there will not be a byelection.
- Edinburgh: Leith Walk ward, after the resignation of Labour councillor Marion Donaldson. Term ends 2022.
- Lichfield: Summerfield and All Saints ward, after the resigntion of Conservative councillor Richard Mosson. As his term was due to end in May, he will not be replaced in a byelection.
- South Oxfordshire: Kidmore End and Whitchurch ward, after the resignation of Conservative councillor Robert Simister in protest at the suspension of six Conservatives for failing to follow the whip on the local plan. His term would have ended in May so no byelection will be held.
Date for byelection
- Durham: The byelection due in Wingate division will be held on 14 March.
Other updates
- The Committee on Standards in Public Life has published a new report on standards in local government. It argues for tighter regulations on councillors participating in issues where they might be thought to have prejudiced their consideration, and that local council standards committees should be able to suspend members found to have broken the code of conduct. However it also argues that the criminal offence of failing to disclose a pecuniary interest be abolished.
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