4 September 2009 - Tina wins in Ham!

Labour wins the Ham By-election. North Prospect resident Tina Touhy has been elected to Plymouth City Council in yesterday's Ham By-election. Labour held the seat with a comfortable majority of 568 votes over the Conservatives.

The local Tory party instead of selecting a local person from Ham opted to select a party supporter from Yelverton to stand for them in the by-election. Nigel Churchill was beaten into second place with UKIP taking third place.

Labour fought a positive campaign throughout and highlighted local issues. Plymouth Labour Party also called on voters to support the campaign to stop the Conservatives selling Plymouth CityBus.

Cllr Tudor Evans, Leader of the Labour Group on Plymouth City Council said: "Tina was a great candidate and will be a hardworking councillor for Ham. This result is significant as it shocked the Tories. Will they now reconsider selling CityBus? They should because the issue got our voters out and theirs to stay at home."

Tina Tuohy, the newly elected Councillor for Ham said: "I'm looking forward to being able to take up the concerns of Ham ward with council officials. Residents have empowered me to act on their behalf. I will be reminding the Council that it is the people who lend the power to councillors and it is they who can take it away."

Alison Seabeck MP, who represents Ham in Parliament said: "This is a fantastic result for people of Ham.  Tina Tuohy will be an excellent councillor who because she lives in the ward, unlike the Tory she defeated, understands the needs of the area. I look forward to working with her."

Labour's Minister for the South West, Jim Knight MP, phoned campaigners in Plymouth immediately after the result was annouced to congratulate Tina and all the volunteers who had worked so hard in this campaign. 

To read coverage of the By-election result click here for the Herald's write up.