Liberal Democrats lose their contributions in both by-elections

Lib Dem counters during the counting of votes in the Wellingborough by-election Photo: Asadur Guzelian

The Lib Dems suffered the humiliation of losing deposit for both by-elections on Thursday evening.

Parties must deposit £500 to stand in the election and receive it back if they receive more than five per cent of the votes cast.

< p> In both Kingswood and Wellingborough, the Lib Dem vote share has fallen sharply compared to previous elections.

In Kingswood, the seat vacated by Chris Skidmore, the former climate minister, the party lost almost half the vote in the 2019 election and dropped to fifth place.

This will be seen as a sign of tactical voting. , where people who want to get rid of the Tories vote for the party most likely to win a seat, rather than the one they are sure to support.

However, this will be awkward for Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Lib Dems. He recently faced awkward questions surrounding the Post Office scandal.

Sir Ed has yet to comment on either outcome.

In Kingswood, the Lib Dems came fifth out of six candidates.

Candidate Andrew Brown received just 861 votes, less than Reform UK and green.

This represented 3.5 per cent of the vote, compared to 6.9 per cent in the 2019 election.

Only one candidate running for Ukip received fewer votes.

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In Wellingborough, the seat vacated by former Conservative MP Peter Bone, the Lib Dems are in fourth place.

Candidate Ana Savage Gunn received just 1,422 votes, less than half the vote for Reform UK.

That's 4.7 percent of the vote, down from 7.9 percent in the previous election.< /p>

The Lib Dems will argue that the result is no surprise as Labor was clearly second in 2019 in both seats.

This is not the first time this has happened when a party loses its position in any of the seats. In Theresa May's 2017 snap election they won 3.3 per cent of the vote in Wellingborough and 3.6 per cent in Kingswood.

Lord Barwell, May's former chief of staff, argued the results showed people's willingness to vote tactically. , not the collapse of Lib Dem support.

He tweeted: “The Lib Dems had no seats in advance and, as expected, were further squeezed. This is bad news for the Tories — it tells us that Lib Dem voters voted tactically; it doesn't tell us anything about how the Lib Dems will perform where they are the main challenger.»

Richard Tice, leader of the Reform Party, said Sir Ed's party had «disappeared in traffic» as he celebrated defeating them to come third in both seats. But Lib Dem strategists, who also blame their losses on tactical voting, believe Reform's relative success could be seen as a positive for their party as it suggests voters are abandoning the Tories.

A Lib Dem source said: “We have always been clear that we will put resources where we can win.”

“The Conservatives have lost a record 10 by-elections in this parliament, four of them they were for the Lib Dems.

“Blue Wall voters are appalled by this government's record of tax rises, soaring mortgages and now the Rishi recession.”

Labour Party has also lost its deposits in three of the four by-elections won by the Lib Dems since 2019.