The Conservatives have held Welham Green, winning Thursday’s by-election by 55 votes, but with a 24% swing to the Liberal Democrats who came second. The British National Party came third and Labour fourth.

The by-election followed the resignation of the former Conservative councillor, Peter O'Brien, in October 2007.

Four candidates stood. Doug Berry for the Conservatives, Bridie Croft for Labour, John Elvy for the Liberal Democrats, and Mark Fuller for the British National Party.

The result was as follows...

Candidate	Party	Votes	Percentage
BERRY Doug	Conservatives	539	40.68%
ELVY John	Liberal Democrats	484	36.53%
FULLER Mark	British National Party	214	16.15%
CROFT Bridie	Labour	88	6.64%

The turnout is understood to have been 46.6%. In the previously election for the seat the Conservatives polled 707 votes, Labour 198, and the Liberal Democrats 156.

You can discuss the by-election in this site's Forum.

4 January 2008