Conor McGrath, the Labour party's candidate for the Bedwell by-election, won by a landslide and has been elected to Stevenage Borough Council (SBC).

Voters went to the polls yesterday (Thursday, January 19) in a by-election called after Matt Creasey, the Labour councillor, stepped down from the role at the start of December.

On a turnout of 22.55 per cent, Conor McGrath won 907 of the 1,299 votes cast. The Conservative party candidate, Matthew Wyatt, came second with 263 votes and Chris Berry, representing the Liberal Democrats, came third with 129 votes.

The results represent a swing to Labour since the last election in Bedwell ward. In 2022, Labour's winning candidate Cllr Nazmin Chowdhury won 56.8 per cent of the vote. This time around, Conor McGrath won 69.8 per cent of the vote.

Major party vote share in the 2022 and 2023 SBC elections in Bedwell

Cllr Chowdhury's result in 2022 was itself an improvement on 2021, when Matt Creasey was elected with 54.2 per cent of the vote.

Following his victory, Cllr McGrath said: "I am thrilled to be a councillor in the Bedwell ward! I want to thank Guy, Lou and all the Labour team for making it such a landslide victory.

"I’m truly honoured to represent the ward I’ve lived in all my life, and I want to thank all my neighbours for going out to vote. I will stick to my pledges and I will listen to residents to make sure I will deliver for you all."