LABOUR'S Alex Abbey has been elected to the borough council after winning the Burtonwood and Winwick by-election.

Mr Abbey, Conservative Paul Campbell and independent Trevor Nicholls, a former chairman of UKIP Warrington, battled for the seat today, Thursday.

Mr Abbey won 753 votes to retain the seat for the party, with Mr Campbell winning 469 votes and Trevor Nicholls 56 votes. Turnout was 25.2 per cent.

But none of the candidates were at The Club in Burtonwood for the count, where the result was declared shortly after 11pm tonight.

The by-election was held following the death of former council leader Terry O’Neill.

It comes three months before the seat is once again contested in the all-out elections in the town – and is expected to cost the borough council £15,000.

Speaking following result, Mr Abbey said: “I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to represent my home on Warrington Borough Council.

"This by-election was called in the saddest of circumstances and throughout our time in the campaign trail, we have been remembering our friend and colleague Terry O’Neill.

“I love this community – it is where I grew up, where I have lived all my life, and where I have raised my family.

“I said at the start of this election that my values and priorities were the same as local people – now, I want to put those values into practice.

"I will work hard to repay the trust people have placed in me, by representing them at the Town Hall and working to ensure the council delivers the best possible service to people in Burtonwood and Winwick.

"I’ll make sure that the voices of people in both villages are heard.

"As I promised throughout the campaign, I’ll always have Burtonwood and Winwick’s interests at heart."

Chris Vobe, who was Mr Abbey’s campaign manager, labelled it as 'a really convincing win'.

He said: "Since the start of the campaign we saw the enthusiasm and interest in Alex, as a local man and a committed community campaigner across both villages, Burtonwood and Winwick.

“I think this is a strong result for him and I think this is a very clear indication that the vision and the ideas and the priorities that he put forward were things that engaged people and resonated with constituents in both villages.

“They have, in their good wisdom, seen fit to send him to the Town Hall to put those ideas into practice.”

But Wendy Maisey, deputy chair (political) of Warrington Conservatives, said the Tories ‘have got a lot to be proud of’ following the result.

She added: “I am absolutely confident we will be securing some seats at the Town Hall in May.

“You can see from the turnout tonight everyone has got a little bit of electoral fatigue really.

“We have really, really closed the gap compared to what we had in 2016.”