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Conservatives win Sleaford by-election | Conservatives win Sleaford by-election |
(35 minutes later) | |
Conservative candidate Caroline Johnson has won the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election, which saw Labour come in fourth behind UKIP and the Liberal Democrats. | Conservative candidate Caroline Johnson has won the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election, which saw Labour come in fourth behind UKIP and the Liberal Democrats. |
The Tory party held onto the seat which became vacant after MP Stephen Phillips quit, citing "irreconcilable policy differences" with the government. | |
Dr Johnson won 17,570 votes beating UKIP's Victoria Ayling, who had 4,426. | |
Labour slipped from second place in the 2015 general election to fourth. | |
Consultant paediatrician Dr Johnson said her election to the House of Commons would boost Theresa May's majority and support the prime minister on Brexit. | |
The seat has returned Conservative MPs since it was formed in 1997 and Mr Phillips, who resigned in November, had a majority of more than 24,000 votes in 2015. | |
Although he backed leaving the EU, he had since been critical of the government's approach to Brexit. | |
UKIP had been campaigning hard in the Lincolnshire seat, an area which voted heavily to leave the European Union. | |
The party's former leader Nigel Farage and his successor Paul Nuttall had been on the campaign trail in the constituency, supporting Ms Ayling - a former Conservative who stood for the Tories in Great Grimsby in 2010. | |
The turnout for the by-election was 37.1% according to North Kesteven District Council, down from 70.2% at the general election last year. |