Conservative Rob Thomas has eased to victory in the Kent County Council by-election for the Canterbury North division.
The 36-year-old financial manager beat the Lib Dems into second and Labour into third, thereby retaining the seat for the Conservatives.
Mr Thomas is already a city councillor for Chartham and Stone Street and joins his father Ian Thomas as both a city and county councillor.
- We need resolve to prevent migrants dying trying to reach the UK
- Whitefriars gearing up for festive season with start of Christmas market
He said: “I ran the campaign on local issues, but of course on the doorstep a lot of people wanted to talk about Brexit.
“However, on what was a tough day for our party nationally, I’m grateful people still came out to vote for us.”
The by-election was prompted by the death of Conservative John Simmonds.
The full results are:
- Robert Thomas (Conservative): 1,355
- Alex Lister (Lib Dem) :756
- Ben Hickman (Labour): 660
- Henry Stanton (Green Party): 157
- Joe Egerton (Independent): 155
- Joe Simons (Ukip): 120
The Conservative vote fell by almost half, and the LibDem was the only party to increase its vote compared with the last County election. It would only have taken 300 of those who voted Con to have switched to Lib Dem to have given victory to the Lib Dem. If only the Lib Dem had been visible on the doorsteps…