Chippenham Conservatives Humiliated in By-Election Defeat

2.50.36pm GMT Mon 11th Feb 2008

Chippenham Conservatives were humiliated last week when the result for the Holt & Paxcroft by-election was announced.

The election for the seat of former Councillor Sarah Content who resigned in protest to the proposed Wiltshire Unitary Authority happened on 7th February, with the result being declared on the Friday morning.

37% of the electorate went to the polls to vote for the five candidates (Trevor Carbin: Lib Dem; Andy Milton: Conservative; Ernie Clark: Independent; Labour and Green).

The election was won by Ernie Clark with 1075 votes, with Trevor Carbin coming a close second on 994, just 81 votes behind. Andy Milton came in a poor third place on just 458.

Trevor Carbin said "Thank you to every one who supported me, this was a tight contest and it is a testament to the residents of Holt and Paxcroft that so many people turned out to vote."

Hamish McCallum, agent to Trevor Carbin, commented on the result, saying "The Conservatives vote share fell by 8% from May last year and the Liberal Democrat vote share rose by over 6%. This is a significant shift in attitude.

"Many local people are saying that they cannot vote for a party who have chosen a Devon farmer as their parliamentary candidate and goes to show that the Liberal Democrats are the party of choice for local people who are looking for a real alternative."

The seat will be fought again in the spring of 2009 (possibly after boundary changes) when councillors are elected for Wiltshire's Unitary Council.