The last time I reviewed the state of political defections by councillors was in October, so a brief update is probably in order. The rate of change seems to have picked up since the autumn - 84 councillors on first-tier authorities have changed allegiances in the last three months.
The significant beneficiary has been Reform UK, which has picked up 16 councillors from the Conservatives and the Independents. There are some examples of 'slow burn' defections, with councillors going Independent before joining Reform. It will be interesting to see if more of these become apparent in the spring, particularly in the run up to council elections in May (assuming, of course, that the Labour government allows us to have them).
The Conservatives have lost 22 councillors, Labour 19, the Lib Dems six and the Greens two. The Nationalists have acquired one new councillor. The balancing figure is 32 new Independents. Note that these are net figures, which can disguise a lot of movement – even Reform lost one councillor to the Independents. There are also a few examples of 'double hatting', where one individual has defected from two council groups.
Aberdeenshire seems to have had the most febrile body politic recently, with five individuals responsible for seven events - two of those being delayed defections to Reform from the Conservatives via the Independents. Newcastle has experienced 6 defections from Labour, who have formed a new Independent group, and North East Derbyshire has seen four new Independents, with three from the Lib Dems and one from the Tories.
No other authorities have seen more than three recorded changes of political allegiance, but for all we know there might be turbulence beneath the surface which will only become apparent when political pressures (or personal animosities) become too great to bear.
As ever, these figures have been taken from reliable sources, but might not stand up to rigorous forensic scrutiny, so are provided on an “errors and omissions excepted” basis. I will try to do a full tally scorecard for 2024 some time in the new year, but in the meantime, "a deep and meaningful Yuletide scenario to you all".
Augustus Carp is the pen name of someone who has been a member of the Liberal Party and then the Liberal Democrats since 1976.
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