Melton Sysonby by-election March 31

To Leicestershire and the delightfully bucolic sounding ward of Melton Sysonby on Melton Borough Council. In reality, it's a fair amount of new build housing just outside of Melton Mowbray. We've got a three way race between the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The vacancy here has arisen because a Tory councillor has stepped down. This was Tejpal Bains who gained a certain amount of recognition when becoming Mayor of Melton at the age of 27. Bains topped the poll when this ward was last contested at the 2019 local elections with three Conservatives all winning a seat:

Bains clearly had something of a personal vote but the Tories have held every seat in this ward going back as far as 2003.

Could anything change this time around? Well, there's certainly a chance it could be a close run thing  - no Green candidate this time which seems surprising given how well they did in 2019, but the Liberal Democrats are on the ballot. If either one of Labour or the Liberal Democrats had been up against a Conservative in a two-horse race, they might well have been favourite. As it is, the opening odds at Smarkets suggest about a 65% chance of Siggy Atherton holding this for the Tories.

The Melton Times has a write up of the three candidates here.