THE LibDems overturned a 19,000 Conservative majority to win the Parliamentary by election in Somerton and Frome.

Sarah Dyke now takes up her seat in the House of Commons following a huge 29 per cent swing.

The full result in the Somerton and Frome Parliamentary by election is:

  • Lorna Corke (Christian Peoples Alliance): 256;
  • Martin Dimery (Green): 3,944;
  • Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat): 21,187;
  • Bruce Evans (Reform UK): 1,303;
  • Neil Guild (Labour): 1,009;
  • Rosie Mitchell (Independent): 635;
  • Faye Purbrick (Conservative): 10,179;
  • Peter Richardson (UK Independence Party): 275.

The by election was caused by the resignation of Conservative MP David Warburton, who had been in Parliament since 2015, after he admitted taking cocaine.

In her victory speech Ms Dyke thanked "lifelong Conservative voters" who had voted Lib Dem for the first time, as well as Labour and Green supporters who had "lent" their votes.

She said the public had been "let down and taken for granted for far too long" by the Conservatives, with the government "too busy being a circus of chaos".

Ms Dyke accused Mr Warburton, who was suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party last April, of being an "absent" MP and said people had been "left without a voice in Parliament for far too long".

The turnout out of the electorate of 87,921 was 44.23 per cent, with 97 spoiled ballot papers.