LibDem victory in Bedford

5.45.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 16th Oct 2009

A couple of hours ago Bedford elected a new Mayor - Liberal Democrat Dave Hodgson. This is a sensational victory for Dave Hodgson.

Nick Clegg said "I congratulate John and the Bedford Liberal Democrats for an outstanding campaign.

You might not have seen much about this election in the media - but this by-election matters. The Mayor of Bedford represents more people than an MP does, and Dave will be making important decisions that affect peoples' lives.

This result shows how misplaced the Conservatives' complacency about the next election really is. The Liberal Democrats have never taken a single vote for granted. With Labour lagging behind at a disastrous fifth this is yet more evidence that the real choice is now between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats." See a video of the result at the link below.

The full result was:

First preferences:

Lib Dem - Dave Hodgson 9428

Conservative 9105

Independent 7631

Independent 4316

Labour 3482

Green 1183

After second preferences:

Lib Dem - Dave Hodgson 13355

Conservative 11543

Related Link:

Video of result announcement.