| Election Name: | 1986 Ryedale by-election |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Seats For Election: | Constituency of Ryedale |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1983 United Kingdom general election |
| Previous Year: | 1983 |
| Election Date: | 8 May 1986 |
| Candidate1: | Elizabeth Shields |
| Party1: | Liberal Party (UK) |
| Popular Vote1: | 27,612 |
| Percentage1: | 50.3% |
| Swing1: | 19.8% |
| Candidate2: | Neil Balfour |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Popular Vote2: | 22,672 |
| Percentage2: | 41.3% |
| Swing2: | 17.9% |
| Candidate3: | Shirley Haines |
| Image3: | Lab |
| Party3: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Popular Vote3: | 4,633 |
| Percentage3: | 8.4% |
| Swing3: | 1.9% |
| MP | |
| Posttitle: | Subsequent MP |
| Before Election: | John Spence |
| Before Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| After Election: | Elizabeth Shields |
| After Party: | Liberal Party (UK) |
| Turnout: | 67.3% (4.5%) |
| Next Election: | 1987 United Kingdom general election |
| Next Year: | 1987 |
The 1986 Ryedale by-election took place on 8 May 1986. The election was held on the same day as the 1986 local elections and the West Derbyshire by-election
It is the latest by-election to have just three candidates standing.
The seat was regained by the Conservatives the next year at the 1987 general election by John Greenway.
In the spring of 1986 unemployment began rising at a greater rate than in previous years and the Conservative loss at Ryedale was a factor (according to Nigel Lawson) in "even committed supporters of the Government's economic strategy...insisting that reducing unemployment should now have priority".[1]