The Brexit Party has failed to win any council seats in the party’s first attempt at fielding candidates in local by-elections.

Nigel Farage’s party may have played a part in seeing a Conservative seat and a Labour one fall to Liberal Democrats.

The Lib Dem victories came in two wards of Gloucester Borough Council in the latest local polls.

They defeated Tories in a by-election in Barnwood ward following the death of a Conservative councillor.

Voting was: Lib Dem 676, Conservatives 496, Brexit Party 152, Labour 64, Green 59, Ukip six. The turnout was 29.1 per cent.

A spokesman for the Brexit Party told the Independent: ‘If the Tories are moaning that we’re taking their voters, then tough.

‘In the Peterborough by-election, it was the other way around – if they had stood aside us, we’d have a solid Brexit-backing MP in place there now.’

Lib Dems narrowly took a seat from Labour in a contest in Podsmead ward caused by the resignation of a Labour councillor.

The Lib Dems were just three votes ahead of Conservatives while Labour was pushed into third place.

Voting was: Lib Dem 203, Conservatives 200, Labour 122, Brexit Party 111, Green 29, Ukip 11. Turnout 32.8 per cent.

Elsewhere, Labour narrowly won a seat at Hartlepool Borough Council in a by-election in Hart ward following the resignation of an independent councillor previously elected for Labour.

Voting was: Labour 366, Ind Union 358, Green 196, For Britain 166, Ukip 114.

The Brexit Party, which topped the vote in the European Parliament election in the UK on May 23, did not field candidates in local elections in England on May 2, following its establishment in January.

The party failed to take a Commons seat in the Peterborough by-election won by Labour on June 6 but came second with 28.9 per cent of the vote.

More than a dozen Ukip councillors are reported to have defected to the Brexit Party recently but the Gloucester contests saw the party’s first attempt to win council representation through the ballot box.

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