Three local by-elections give cheer to the new parties of the right.

The Liberal Democrats had a good day yesterday gaining two council seats in Gloucester, one from Labour and one from the Conservatives. 

However, it is interesting to note the performance of the new parties of the right.  The Brexit Party stood candidates in the two contests in Gloucester receiving 10.5 per cent of the votes in one and a very respectable 16.4 per cent in the other.    

In the Labour Party bastion of Hartlepool, on the North Sea coast of County Durham, Labour won a council seat with only 30 per cent of the vote while Anne Marie Waters’ For Britain Movement must have been encouraged by garnering 13.8 per cent.  Remarkably the For Britain Movement and UKIP received a combined 23.3 per cent of the vote. 

In general the three results suggest the Labour vote is being chipped away on the left by the Liberal Democrats and on the right by The Brexit Party and the For Britain Movement.

I suspect, now Boris and his Brexiteers are in government, the Conservative Party may stabilize somewhat in the polls until its fate is decided on November 1.