Liberal Democrats win Cheadle
The Liberal Democrats have won the seat of Cheadle in a Westminster by-election.
Mark Hunter, leader of Stockport council, was elected MP for Cheadle with 19,593 votes.
He beat Conservative candidate Stephen Day, MP for Cheadle from 1987 to 2001, who gained 15,936 votes.
Labour’s Martin Miller lost his deposit after winning just 1,739 votes.
But the Lib Dems’ majority saw a slight drop off from more than 4,000 at the general election on May 5th to 3,657 this time around.
This is despite a 0.63 per cent swing from the Tories to the Lib Dems.
The by-election was caused by the death of Patsy Calton, who died of cancer three weeks after the general election.
The Tories held the seat until 2001 before Ms Calton won it for the Lib Dems with a slender majority of just 33.
Analysts said a defeat for the Lib Dems would have precipitated a fresh round of bloodletting among MPs disgruntled about Charles Kennedy’s style of party leadership.
Mr Kennedy described the win as “a first class victory”.
“It is further proof that British politics is now three party politics – with the Lib Dems as a growing force for the future,” he said.
