The Tory party has scooped a former Labour seat on Redcar and Cleveland Council, bucking a national trend of depleting support for Rishi Sunak’s party.

Conservative candidate Paul Salvin took the Normanby seat in a by-election on Thursday (December 22), which was held following the sad death of Cllr Chris Foley-McCormack.

The Tories won 389 votes (37.5%), with a 15.9 percentage point swing from the 2019 local elections.

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Labour received 357 votes (34.5%), a swing of 2.4 percentage points.

The Liberal Democrat vote fell by 12.9 percentage points to just 3.7% and UKIP stood no candidate in the by-election, unlike in 2019 when the party secured 29.8% of the vote.

The win is likely to boost Conservative spirits after a spate of disastrous national polling for the party. New predictions on Friday (December 23) from polling firm Omnisis suggest Labour would win 51% of the vote in a General Election, with the Conservatives winning just 25%.

New Normanby Councillor Paul Salvin said: “I would, first of all, like to say a huge thank you to everybody who put their trust in me and took the time to make their vote count.

"The circumstances of this by-election are, of course, very sad and I want to assure everybody that, whether you voted for me or not, I'm here to represent every single person in this ward.

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"And that's important because there is a lot to do in Normanby and I want to hit the ground running.

"Right from the off, I will be working with Redcar and Cleveland Council, Cleveland Police, the Tees Valley Mayor and our local MPs to press ahead to secure the changes and improvements that the people of Normanby have been calling for.

"Probably the biggest challenge will be tackling the anti-social behaviour, drugs and off-road bikes that plague the lives of ordinary, decent people every single day.

"So my first port of call will be to meet with council officers and our Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner, Steve Turner, at the earliest opportunity, to get the ball rolling in terms of putting in place the measures that will make Normanby a safer place for everybody.

"I will also be working closely with Jacob Young MP and my colleagues on the council to get the Eston Baths and Eston Square projects over the line, as well as addressing the issues with traffic in Normanby which I believe new lights could help improve.

"So thank you to everybody who voted. I'm overjoyed with the result and, while I will certainly be celebrating tonight, the hard work starts now."

See the full results here:

Conservative: 37.5% (+15.9)

Labour: 34.5% (+2.4)

Independent (Richardson): 13.8% (+13.8)

Independent (McInnes): 10.5% (+10.5)

Liberal Democrat: 3.7% (-12.9)

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