THE Liberal Democrats won a by-election to Wellington Town Council last night – taking the seat from Reform UK.
Lib Dem Gareth Williams topped the poll, for the Wellington South ward, with 471 votes – pushing Reform UK’s Andy Denison into second place (212).
The election came after Reform councillor Marcus Barr, resigned from the authority.
Conservative candidate Alex Yates was third (100), followed by Bethany Hill of Labour (26) and independent Keiran Harcombe (12).
Turnout for the vote was 37 per cent.
The result means the Liberal Democrats now have seven town councillors with four independents, three Labour and one Conservative.
“I’d like to thank everyone who voted,” said new councillor Gareth. “What I really enjoyed about the campaign was meeting fellow residents who have the same concerns as me and being able to collate those into a plan of action for what is now going to be my tenure as a councillor.
“It’s given me a really clear vision of what I need to do and the town council need to do in order to give Wellington the infrastructure it needs in the future.”
Mr Williams also paid tribute to the team who helped him get elected.
“I was immediately made to feel very welcome by the Liberal Democrats and it’s because of them and their hard work that I’m standing here as a new town councillor,” he added.
Among supporters joining him at the count was Gideon Amos, the Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Wellington, who said: “Nothing beats listening and being willing to work hard for local people and I saw how hard Gareth worked, visiting residents in every part of Wellington South.
“That is what our Lib Dem team is all about but, first and foremost, Gareth will be a really dedicated champion of his fellow residents in Wellington.”
READ MORE: Politics news from your Somerset Leveller
That is really a great shame for Somerset ratepayers, clearly national issues being bought into local politics where the Liberal Democrats have bought local politics into disrepute by a combination of waste and corruption which I had planned to expose when I retired by writing a book entitled “Waste, Corruption & Paedophillia, my 13 years experience of being a District Councillor.”
Unfortunately health challenges have curtailed that possibility and I suspect The Somerset Leveller wouldn’t be interested in a factual expose based simply on factual evidence.