Labour Wins Ormsgill Ward In Barrow Town Council By Election
Labour has secured the vacant Ormsgill ward seat on Barrow Town Council, with Lucy Belbin elected after receiving the highest number of votes in the by election.
The contest was held to fill the seat previously occupied by Chris Altree, who announced that he would step down from the council at the turn of the year. Three candidates were listed on the ballot paper for the vacant position.
Ms Belbin, representing the Labour Party, received 326 votes to finish comfortably ahead of her nearest challenger. Her result gives Labour representation in the Ormsgill ward following the vacancy created by Mr Altree's departure.
Reform UK candidate Ellie Reynolds finished second with 168 votes. Her total placed her 158 votes behind Ms Belbin, while the Conservative candidate John McDonnell finished third in the contest.
Mr McDonnell received 41 votes in total, meaning there was a substantial gap between the Conservative candidate and the two candidates who finished ahead of him. The full result was published following the count for the town council ward.
The result was complicated by the withdrawal of Ms Reynolds before polling took place. She issued a statement announcing that she was withdrawing from the election, but her name remained on the ballot paper because postal votes had already been distributed.
As a result, voters who had already received postal ballot papers were still presented with Ms Reynolds' name as an option. Her 168 votes were nevertheless included in the official count despite her withdrawal from the contest.
The by election was held to determine who would represent Ormsgill on Barrow Town Council after the seat became vacant. The council will now have a Labour councillor representing the ward following the result.
The outcome gives Ms Belbin a clear majority over the other candidates who appeared on the ballot paper. Her 326 votes accounted for more than the combined total recorded by the Conservative and Reform UK candidates.
The result also provides an indication of the level of support for the three parties involved in the contest within the Ormsgill ward. Labour finished with nearly twice as many votes as Reform UK, while the Conservative vote was significantly lower.
The circumstances surrounding the Reform UK candidacy were unusual because Ms Reynolds had withdrawn before polling day but remained formally listed. The situation arose because postal voting papers had already been issued and could not simply be changed after her withdrawal.
With the count completed, Lucy Belbin will now take up the vacant position on Barrow Town Council and represent residents in Ormsgill. Her election follows the decision by the previous councillor to leave the seat at the turn of the year.
The result concludes the by election process and confirms the new representative for the ward. The final figures were 326 votes for Labour's Lucy Belbin, 168 for Reform UK's Ellie Reynolds and 41 for Conservative candidate John McDonnell.
The Ormsgill result adds another local electoral outcome to the changing political picture across Cumbria, with town and parish council elections continuing to determine representation at community level. The newly elected councillor will now take on responsibility for representing Ormsgill residents on Barrow Town Council.
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