Lib Dems storm to second place in by-election!

6.00.37pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 21st Jul 2007

Greg Stone and the Liberal Democrats have stormed into second place in the Sedgefield by-election with Labour seeing their majority slashed. The Tories have slumped to third place on 14.6%, only just ahead of the BNP.

The result was:

Liberal Democrat Greg Stone: 5,572

Labour (Philip Wilson): 12,528

Conservative (Graham Robb): 4,082

You can see the result in full at www.sedgefieldlibdems.org.uk/results/1462.html

Commenting on the by-election result, Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell said:

"This is a great result for the Liberal Democrats. We have doubled our share of the vote, and pushed the Conservatives into a poor third place.

"It is a blow to Brown and a disaster for David Cameron.

"The Conservatives have been pushed into a poor third place and proved once again that they are entirely marginalized in the North of England.

"The voters of Sedgefield have sent a clear message to the Government - disastrous decisions on Iraq and rewarding the richest in society are being rejected by the hard-working and fair-minded families of this country.

"The Liberal Democrats are the only national party of opposition, and are gaining momentum. Three-party politics is here to stay."