12AUG

Lib Dems take Almondbury off Reform

1 min read

14:07UTC

Almondbury changed hands on 13 August, with the Liberal Democrats on 43.9% and Reform UK, which won the ward in May, down to 27.0%.

← Back to Reform bleeds councillors, wins by-elections Jump to analysis ↓

PoliticsAssessed

Key takeaway

Reform UK's Almondbury share fell ten points on May and the Liberal Democrats took the seat.

The Liberal Democrats gained Almondbury on Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council from Reform UK on Thursday 13 August, polling 43.9% against Reform's 27.0%⁠¹. Reform had won the same West Yorkshire ward on 7 May.

Kirklees is the authority covering Huddersfield, and Almondbury is one of its wards. A council by-election fills a single vacancy between the four-yearly whole-council rounds, on a turnout that in August runs well below the all-out turnout that produced the seat in the first place. This was the first of the wards Reform took in May to come back round with opponents on the paper.

Between the two contests Reform's share dropped 10.0 points and the Liberal Democrats added 14.5⁠². Neither movement is large in absolute votes at this scale, and the direction is what carries. A week earlier the Green Party had gained a Reigate and Banstead seat with Reform second, and on 11 August Reform's polling average stood at 24%. One ward on an August turnout settles none of that, and Kirklees only becomes evidence once the wards behind it are counted too.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Almondbury is a ward on Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council in West Yorkshire. Reform UK won the seat outright on 7 May, part of a wider set of council elections that year, but lost it to the Liberal Democrats just over three months later. When any party wins a council seat for the first time, its new councillor has not yet had time to build a reputation with local residents through casework and constituency work. That normally protective effect of incumbency simply has not had time to develop after only a few months in office.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

A council seat won for the first time in May by a party with no prior presence there carries no accumulated casework record, local profile or activist base to defend it if a vacancy arises again quickly.

Incumbency protection normally cushions a sitting party against a single bad result, but that protection takes more than a few months to build. That is one reason a seat won outright in May can be lost again by August.

What could happen next?

Meaning
A reversal this fast, just over three months, is the shortest cycle of any result in this set and suggests new Reform councillors are especially exposed at their first test.

Sources:Liberal Democrat Voice·Kirklees Council

Mentions:Liberal Democrats →Reform UK →Almondbury →Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council →European Parliament →Brexit →Parliament →Green Party →UKIP →Reigate and Banstead →Boris Johnson →

First Reported In

Update #16 · Reform loses three wards, wins Clacton

Liberal Democrat Voice· 23 Aug 2026

Read original →

Causes and effects

Caused by

Reform wins three of ten by-elections

The early-August pattern of Reform gains and holds contrasts with Almondbury's loss the following week.

Occurred 6 Aug 2026

Read story →

This Event

Lib Dems take Almondbury off Reform

Reform UK lost the first of the May-won wards it was asked to defend against opponents who actually stood.

Different Perspectives

Rhun ap Iorwerth / Welsh Government (Plaid Cymru)

Ap Iorwerth presented six priorities to the Senedd on 22 September without numeric targets or a named partner party, promising to work across the chamber where there is common ground. He says his government will be judged on results.

Michael Marra / Scottish Labour

Marra won the leadership on 19 September, and three days later his 17 MSPs backed Swinney's right-to-decide motion once their child-poverty amendment was written in. He says Scottish Labour's task is to tell voters what it stands for.

Andy Burnham / Labour Party

Burnham told conference in Liverpool on 29 September that Labour's next manifesto will commit to changing the electoral system, and invited every party into a National Commission on Electoral Reform. He has not named a replacement system, and no chair or remit has been published.

Conservative Party (frontbench peers and Kemi Badenoch)

Conservative frontbench peers argued against retrospective rules at the Lords Second Reading on 14 September, a position that protects gifts made before any cap. Kemi Badenoch rejected Burnham's electoral reform commission on 2 October, accusing him of using it to entrench the left.

Reform UK

Reform denied wrongdoing after the Channel 4 News programme, called the sting a hoax by climate activists and said it would cooperate with the Metropolitan Police. In the same month it announced £36m gifts from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.

Steff Aquarone / Liberal Democrats (North Norfolk)

Aquarone told Rayner in the Commons on 7 September that North Norfolk District Council had spent money preparing for a reorganisation the Government has now withdrawn. He puts the cost of the cancelled merger on districts in the four areas.