Another Lib Dem Success in South Hampshire

9.58.18am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 29th Nov 2004

Lib Dems have seen another electoral triumph in southern Hampshire, by snatching a ward in Romsey by just 19 votes ahead of the Conservatives. The victory last Thursday for Lib Dem Sally Lamb follows a hard fought by-election campaign with the Tories desperately hoping to gain the seat in a ward where they hold the other council seat.

The full result was as follows:

Sally Lamb (Liberal Democrat) 861

John Ray (Conservative) 842

Liberal Democrat gain from Independent.

Turn-out 47.8%

The result will be a major blow to Conservative hopes of winning back Romsey at the General Election - one of their most marginal targets. The Conservatives targeted huge resources at the by-election and their parliamentary candidate personally had a high profile in their campaign. The last time the 2 member ward was fought (in 2003) the Conservative candidate finished almost 100 votes ahead of the best placed Lib Dem.

The Liberal Democrats in Eastleigh send their congratulations to Sally Lamb, Sandra Gidley and the rest of the Liberal Democrat team in Romsey.