Southend West by-election: Anna Firth wins seat for the Conservative Partyon February 4, 2022 at 1:41 am

The Conservatives have retained the seat of Southend West in a Parliamentary by-election triggered by the fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess MP.

Anna Firth won with 12,792 votes in a contest that saw a low turnout of 22%.

The election was not contested by Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the Greens.

Jason Pilley of the Psychedelic Movement came second with 512 votes. UKIP’s Steve Laws was third with 400.

There were 1,084 spoilt ballot papers.

This is a breaking news story – more to follow.