Laleham and Shepperton Green Ward - 15% swing to Lib Dems as Tories scrape in

4.17.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 2nd Oct 2009

Only the Lib Dems can beat the Conservatives in Spelthorne

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner, Richard Dunn, came so close to winning in the traditionally safe Tory seat of Laleham and Shepperton Green. The Conservative majority of 618 in May 2007 was reduced to just 72 votes in this by-election.

Richard said "Thank you to all those who took the trouble to vote on polling day. I enjoyed meeting so many residents and listening to their views and concerns."

The Conservative vote fell by over 16%, while the Lib Dem vote was up by more than 13% - a swing of 14.8% to the Lib Dems. Despite turnout being up by over 3% the Tory candidate's vote was over 200 below the 2007 level.

The UKIP and Independent challenge fizzled out with only 154 and 142 votes respectively.

As expected the Labour candidate came last with 77 votes, only 4% of the vote - down 12.6%. There is absolutely no doubt now that the Lib Dems are the only challengers to the Conservatives.