Conservatives hold on to Desborough seat at North Northamptonshire Council by-election

The Conservative leader of North Northamptonshire Council has hailed his party’s victory in a Desborough by-election as ‘fantastic’.

Tory candidate Bill McElhinney polled 1,485 votes, beating Labour candidate Rikki Tod into second place who received 1,054, a margin of 431 votes.

Speaking on behalf of Bill McElhinney, who could not attend the count due to work commitments, Cllr Jason Smithers welcomed the victory.

He said: “It’s absolutely fantastic that our candidate won. The people of Desborough have come out and endorsed the Conservative candidate by a considerable amount.”

Both Conservatives and Labour had hit the campaign trail hard. Labour’s Kettering candidate for the general election, Rosie Wrighting, had been spear-heading their battle.

Ms Wrighting said: “We might not have won today, but seeing this big swing in one of the most rural wards in our constituency gives us really good hope going into the general election.”

Rikki Tod for Labour said: “We have managed to reduce the majority. I’m disappointed but we are celebrating. Rosie has led from the front. She is a fantastic candidate for the national election.”

The Desborough ward by-election saw a 29.9 per cent turnout. The full result was:

Bill McElhinney (Conservative) - 1,485

Rikki Tod (Labour) - 1,054

Olivia Stevenson (Green) - 368

Alan Window (Liberal Democrat) - 234

In 2021, in the three Desborough ward seats, the Conservative Party took 54.7 per cent of the vote, compared with 29.7 per cent polled by nearest rival Labour. Yesterday’s by-election was held after the death of Conservative Cllr Mike Tebbutt.