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UKIP gains first elected MP with Clacton by-election win | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The UK Independence Party has gained its first-ever elected MP, with Douglas Carswell taking the seat of Clacton, Essex, by 12,404 votes. | |
Mr Carswell, who defected from the Conservatives, knocked his old party, which enjoyed a 12,068 majority at the 2010 election, into second place. | |
Meanwhile, Labour held on to Heywood and Middleton, Greater Manchester, but UKIP slashed its majority to 617. | |
Turnout was 51% in Clacton and 36% in Heywood and Middleton. | |
When Mr Carswell, a Conservative MP since 2005, defected, he also resigned as an MP to trigger the by-election in Clacton. Another Conservative MP, Bob Spink, defected to UKIP in 2008 but he did not resign and stand for election. | |
In his acceptance speech, Mr Carswell, who gained 21,113 votes, said of UKIP: "There's nothing that we cannot achieve, nothing that we cannot achieve in Essex, East Anglia and the whole country." | |
'Bundle check' | |
He condemned the other Westminster parties for operating "cosy cartel politics". | |
Conservative candidate Giles Watling got 8,709 votes. | |
In Heywood and Middleton, a "bundle check" of votes took place because of the closeness of the result in the seat, which has been held by Labour since its creation in 1983. | |
Labour's Liz McInnes got 11,633 votes, with UKIP's John Bickley gaining 11,016. Conservative Iain Gartside came third with 3,496 votes and Liberal Democrat Anthony Smith fourth with 1,457. | |
Ms McInnes told the BBC: "I'm going to work damn hard in this constituency. People here will have an MP who is going to fight for their interests." | Ms McInnes told the BBC: "I'm going to work damn hard in this constituency. People here will have an MP who is going to fight for their interests." |
But Mr Bickley said: "Labour are in big trouble. This should have been a safe seat. They have thrown everything at it and they have only just scraped home." | |
The Heywood and Middleton contest was prompted by the death of long-serving Labour MP Jim Dobbin last month. His majority at the last general election was 5,971. | |
Another by-election is due to take place next month in Rochester and Strood, Kent, following the resignation of Mark Reckless who, like Mr Carswell, defected from the Conservatives to UKIP. Mr Reckless is also running for re-election. | |