Lucinda Preston, Labour’s candidate for the Carholme ward by-election, has been announced as the new city councillor.
With 922 votes out of 1,455, Lucinda takes over from Karen Lee, who resigned after becoming the MP for Lincoln in June.
In a speech after the result was announced, the teacher thanked council staff as well as her campaign team before commenting on the by-election itself.
She said: “By-elections don’t traditionally have a high turnout. Elections under rainy days don’t traditionally have high turnout. Yet tonight we have gained a huge majority.
“Labour has gained that majority and it is testament to the trust by Labour councillors, such as Neil Murray, Robert Parker, Tony Speakman and of course Karen Lee have bought over the years.
“The people of Carholme trust Labour to put their needs first, to listen to their concerns, to act on them, and to always work to improve the quality of life in Carholme.”
Lucinda then went on to describe the result as ‘a continuing rejection of Tory policies that hurt ordinary people’, in comments which sparked muttered remarks from one Conservative county councillor.
“Labour voters have shown that through these difficult times, they value their Labour council to work alongside their Labour MP to protect them,” she said.
Lucinda went on to add: “It will be a privilege to be part of a dynamic Lincoln City Council, and I can’t wait to get to work on behalf of the residents of Carholme.”
Meanwhile, Conservative candidate Kateryna Salvador, a third year Politics and International Relations student at the University of Lincoln, said she was happy her result was higher than previous years.
“Congratulations to Lucinda – she’s going to do well,” she said.
Elsewhere, Liberal Democrat candidate James Brown said he was ‘slightly disappointed’ by the result.
“We didn’t come third which was one of our aims,” he said, “but with one vote away, which is very, very doable.
“I will continue campaigning in Carholme – for the wonderful people of Carholme – and hopefully I’ll be here next year, with an improved amount of votes and see what happens next,” he said.
Speaking before the result was announced, The Green Party’s candidate Ben Loryman said the campaigning was ‘very good’.
“I think people are probably exhausted of politics and quite cynical about politicians but actually, I thought all four campaigns had enthusiastic campaign teams who put a lot of effort in, and all the campaign teams were talking about real local issues,” he said.
Turnout for the by-election was 27.3%. Here’s the full breakdown of the votes:
- Lucinda Preston (LAB) – 922 votes
- Kateryna Salvador (CON) – 368 votes
- Ben Loryman (GRN) – 83 votes
- James Brown (LIB DEM) – 82 votes