Conservatives win Kingsmead by-election

Conservative candidate Rosemary Bolton has won the Kingmead Ward by-election for East Herts Council, following the resignation of Vick Glover-Ward last month.

Cllr Bolton received 575 votes, beating Green candidate Drew Waller-Downes in to second place with 529. Reform were a distant third with 253 votes.

The full result of the election was:

Rosemary Bolton (Con) 575
Drew Waller-Downes (Grn) 529
Christopher Bush (ref) 253
Dawn Newell (Lab) 164
Elif Lewis (Lib) 110

Cllr Bolton said: "I am honoured and humbled to have been elected once more to serve Kingsmead on the district council.

"I promise to fight hard for residents to make sure the Greens and their Liberal Democrat allies are held to account across both Hertford and East Hertfordshire.

"Like many local people, I am appalled at the near £1 million in avoidable losses at BEAM, formerly Hertford Theatre, which is money that could have been used for investment in local services.

"The Greens and Liberal Democrats have been asleep at the wheel. I’ll also fight for a cleaner Hertford, and to prevent a repetition of the Greens’ inflation-busting 16.8% Hertford Town Council tax hike."

The result means the Green-Liberal Democrat ruling coalition now has just 25 seats on the 50-seat authority and no absolute majority.