UKIP by-election results - which ones will HnH's 'Purple Rain' magnifying glass focus on?

UKIP lost the Stourport on Severn seat, although the vote share held up
well given the circumstances of the by-election

With a handful of local election results from last night, it is not going to be difficult to guess which one Hope not Hate's faulty magnifying glass will settle on. We are sure that their 'Purple Rain' campaign will focus on one in particular - UKIPs loss of the Stourport on Severn seat on Worcestershire County Council. This was the seat vacated almost immediately after he was elected following the disclosure that he had posted racist material on his Facebook feed. While we are sure that HnH will be calling this a huge triumph, the result - although a loss - was not too bad: the UKIP vote share decreased by only 1.5%, while it is clear that the 'Health Concern' candidate won due to tactical voting by former Labour supporters.

In the Primrose ward on South Tyneside MBC, UKIP took a huge chunk of
the Labour vote

Elsewhere, we are willing to bet that Hope not Hate will not bother to mention other results. There were two by-elections on South Tyneside MBC. In the Primrose ward - which UKIP had never contested previously - UKIP came second with over 34%, while Labour held the seat, but with their

The Cleadon & East Boldon result

vote down 25%. The other South Tyneside ward - Cleadon & East Boldon - was a Labour gain from Conservative, but UKIP polled over 26%, in this instance eating into the Tory vote by almost 20% and Labours vote by over 7%. The Primrose ward may get a slight mention by HnH as the BNP vote dropped by 3.6%.

The Ketton ward result from Rutland County Council

On Rutland County Council, UKIP contested the Ketton ward for the first time - previously it had returned 2 Conservative councillors unopposed. The Conservatives held the seat, but UKIP polled a respectable 17.5% in a first run at the seat.

UKIPs vote increased in Plymouth Southway as they overtook Labour

In a by-election for the Southway ward on Plymouth City Council, UKIP overtook the Conservatives
to come second behind Labour, who held the seat although with a much reduced majority. In the face of a strong challenge from an independent candidate UKIPs vote still increased by almost 5% over last years result.

Fighting Dartford Newtown for the first time since 2007, UKIP polled almost
a quarter of the votes

In Dartford, UKIP contested the Newtown ward on Dartford Borough Council. Fighting the ward for the first time since 2007, UKIP polled 22.7% as Labour gained the seat from the Conservatives.

In the final result from last night which included UKIP candidates, UKIP nearly doubled its vote

The Billericay East result, including the 3 votes gained by the NF

compared to last year to take just short of 30% of the vote in the Billericay East ward of Basildon District Council. Drawing support almost equally from Lib/Lab/Con voters, what is memorable is not UKIPs continued advance but the 3 votes - yes, 3 - gained by the National Front. This is the only other result which Hope not Hate are likely to feature as they mock the fact that as many people voted NF as turned up for HnH's 'Stand up for HOPE' meeting in Hackney.

Congratulations to all the UKIP candidates around the country who put themselves forwards - Terry Gandy, Ivan Burch, Peter Berrow, Liam Powell, Colin Campbell, John Clarke and John Holden. You can all be proud of your results, and we thank you for your efforts!

Graphics from English Elections