With barely two months until this year's critical council elections, Labour have been boosted by two by-election gains in the West Midlands region.
The party took seats off Tories at Redditch BC and North Warwickshire DC, and came close to a third victory when the Tories held on at Newcastle-under-Lyme BC.
The Redditch gain comes as a much-needed boost to the re-election hopes of embattled home secretary, Jacqui Smith, the town's MP.
This month:
So far this year, Liberal Democrats have five net gains in by-elections, Labour one, SNP one and BNP one. The Conservatives have lost five overall, and independents and others, three.
