Pugh storms in as Labour Bubble Bursts in Southport
Southport‘s former Lib Dem MP Dr John Pugh stormed back to local politics last night with a monumental victory in the town’s Dukes Ward. He defeated the Conservative candidate Ann Pearmain by 890 votes and gained a majority over all other candidates put together. Labour came a poor third.
On a night when the Conservative vote also dipped, the Labour candidate Frank Hanley scored 21 votes fewer than when he was beaten by over a thousand votes by Councillor Tony Dawson in May 2016 election. UKIP and Green candidates both gained only a handful of votes.
Dukes Ward, Sefton MBC by-election result, November 2nd 2017
John Pugh Lib Dem 1680 56.0%
Conservative 790 26.3%
Labour 417 13.9%
UKIP 69 2.3%
Green 45 1.5%