HITCHIN: Keith Hoskins has won the Hitchin South by-election by a landslide.

The Liberal Democrat councillor routed the other candidates to take the seat previously held by the late Paul Clark, whose untimely death from Covid in December resulted in the election.

Mr Hoskins, who was Hitchin town centre boss for more than two decades, with his tireless advocacy for our town learning him an MBE, picked up a whopping 72 per cent of the vote on Thursday.

Mr Hoskins picked up a stunning 2,401 votes (72%), with the Tory candidate Claire Strong a miserable second with only 21 per cent, or 690 votes.

Deolinda Eltringham representing the Green Party landed a creditable 223 votes (7%) with Leigh Smith of the Christian Peoples Alliance receiving 35 votes - or 1 per cent of the total.

Labour declined to run out of respect for the late Mr Clark.

The turnout was 33 per cent with a total of 3,349 votes cast. 13 votes were spoiled/rejected.

More to follow....

[H1]LIKE HITCHIN NUB NEWS ON FACEBOOK HERE TO FOLLOW ALL THE LATEST NEWS OUR TOWN[H1]